South Korea shares edge higher as Samsung Elec flags soaring earnings

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares closed higher on Tuesday, led by Samsung Electronics after the world’s largest memory chipmaker flagged an eight-fold jump in quarterly profit. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark KOSPI rose 44.44 points, or 0.82%, to 5,494.77.

Samsung Electronics projected its first-quarter earnings would exceed its entire profit for last year, beating expectations as booming demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure stretched supply and drove chip prices higher.

Its shares closed 1.76% higher, while peer SK Hynix gained 3.39%.

South Korea’s currency chief said the government will deploy decisive measures to stabilise the foreign exchange market if needed.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.97%. Hyundai Motor rose 0.85%, while sister automaker Kia Corp was down 0.53%. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings

shed 1%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 1.99%.

Of the total 918 traded issues, 287 shares advanced, while 580 declined.

Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 406.9 billion won.

The won was quoted at 1,504.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.37% stronger than its previous close at 1,509.8.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,504.0 per dollar, up 0.3% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,502.5.

The KOSPI has risen 30.39% so far this year.

The won has weakened 4.3% against the dollar this year.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds lost 0.04 point to 103.99.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.9 basis point to 3.455%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.9 basis points to 3.753%.