SEOUL: Seoul shares edged up on Wednesday after better-than-expected retail data from the United States boosted Wall Street in a late-session rally.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.4 percent higher at 1,991.11 points as of 0224 GMT.
"Overall, the index is headed up as there is more liquidity globally. Recently, the KOSPI has underperformed its peers under pressure from a stronger won, but this is a part of a correction following the sudden gains made in the first few days of 2013," said Yoo Seung-min, a lead strategist at Samsung Securities, adding that the index is seen bottoming out at the 1,980 mark.
Tech stocks fared better than Tuesday, when they were rattled by a report in Japan's Nikkei business daily that Apple Inc cut LCD panel orders by half on weak demand for the iPhone 5.
Industry leader and Apple supplier Samsung Electronics was down 0.1 percent, after a 2.6 fall in the previous session. LG Display, one of the panel suppliers named in the report, was down 1 percent after shedding 3.5 percent on Tuesday.
However, chipmaker SK Hynix Inc rose 1.7 percent as contract prices of computer memory chips jumped 10 percent in the first half of January amid tight supply and growing demand from PC makers.
SK Holdings was up 3.5 percent.
"As a holding company of the SK Group, moves in SK Holdings reflect expectations about its unlisted units. In this case, it could be about SK E&S, an energy provider which investors expect will profit from the cold weather," said Kim Yong-sik at Daishin Securities.
Another unlisted SK unit, SK E&C, won an order worth $2.1 billion to build a petrochemical plant in Vietnam with GS Engineering & Construction.
Shares in GS E&C were up 3 percent, while the broader construction sector rose 2.4 percent.
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering rose 3.3 percent after it confirmed late on Tuesday it had submitted a bid for a project on the man-made Upper Zakum island in the United Arab Emirates.
The KOSPI 200 benchmark of core stocks was up 0.5 percent, while the junior KOSDAQ edged 0.3 percent higher.
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