SEOUL: Seoul shares traded nearly flat on Wednesday, with refiners and automakers rallying and positive US economic data helping investor sentiment, but upside momentum was limited after the previous session's sharp gains.
"We are seeing some profit-taking by retail investors after yesterday's rally," said Kim Seong-bong, a market analyst at Samsung Securities, adding the market would likely move within a boxed range between 1,800 to 1,920 points.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 0.07 percent at 1,876.81 points as of 0129 GMT after seeing a near-3 percent gain on Tuesday, hovering near its 120-day moving average of 1,874 points.
Foreign investors were buyers of a net 48.8 billion won ($42.41 million) worth of stocks after posting their biggest net purchase in two weeks on Tuesday.
Retail investors sold a net 153 billion won.
Rises were led by automakers and crude oil refiners.
SK Innovation, the country's top crude oil refiner, advanced 2 percent and S-Oil, South Korea's No.3 refiner, climbed 0.95 percent after oil prices surged in US trade on Tuesday.
"Higher crude prices tend to boost refining margins and product prices," said Ahn Sang-hee, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
Ahn added that companies like SK Innovation that own oil fields overseas were most likely to benefit from crude price hikes.
Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors both rose around 1 percent on the back of solid December sales figures and positive fourth quarter earnings expectations, said Woori Investment & Securities analyst Cho Soo-hong.
But Samsung Electronics retreated 1.5 percent after posting a record closing high in the previous session.
Nong Shim fell 1.6 percent after a local media report a group of supermarket owners started a campaign to boycott its instant noodle products, citing excessive prices.
Peers Samyang Foods and Ottogi rallied 7.8 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.