South Korea stocks hit one-week high boosted by chip shares

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares jumped over 2.5% on Tuesday, lifted by chipmakers and foreign buying, following a tech-led Wall Street rebound overnight. The won traded flat, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

The KOSPI soared 74.30 points, or 2.43%, to 3,130.83 as of 0156 GMT, after gaining as much as 2.7% in early trade to a one-week high. The index jumped 2.7% on Monday on robust trade data and fading volatility concerns.

Chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged as much as 4.1% and 5.2%, respectively, while other heavyweights such as Naver jumped 7.2% to a record high.

"Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares strengthened following gains in US chipmakers overnight on rising DRAM chip prices Volatility concerns around GameStop seem to be fading but still needs to be outwatched," said Na Jeong-hwan, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities.

The S&P 500 index registered its biggest daily percentage gain since Nov. 24 on Monday after a steep sell-off last week, and technology-related shares led the advance.

South Korea's inflation sped up in January, beating forecasts, providing more signals of a mild recovery.

Meanwhile, the country's ruling party said it will prepare a fourth round of COVID-19 cash handouts and an extra budget of sufficient scale to support those affected by tough social distancing.

Foreigners were net buyers of 139.6 billion won ($125.10 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,117.1 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.05% lower than its previous close.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,115.9 per dollar, up 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,115.4.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.3 basis points to 0.982%.