Seoul shares rose on Monday lifted by firm gains in refiners and transporters including SK Innovation and Korean Air Line, but military action against Libya kept investors on edge. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index ended up 1.13 percent at 2,003.42 points. The KOSPI 200 June futures index finished up 2.60 points at 265.65. The KOSPI 200 spot index rose 2.50 points to 264.89.
The junior Kosdaq market ended up 2.37 percent at 506.53. Foreign investors were buyers of a net 133.9 billion won ($119 million) worth of stocks, and retail investors purchased a net 15.6 billion won. Engineers restored electricity to three reactors at a crippled Japanese nuclear power plant and hope to test water pumps at the quake-damaged facility soon, the first signs of progress in tackling the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.
Trading turnover stood at 5.6 trillion won, lower than the daily average of 6.6 trillion won in February. Nuclear power related issues bounced robustly following their recent sharp falls. Shares in KEPCO Engineering & Construction rose 9.3 percent after tumbling 23 percent in the past five sessions. Shares in KEPCO Plant Service & Engineering jumped 12.2 percent, after declining 13.5 percent during the previous five sessions.
Crude refiners outperformed as oil prices continued to gain, pointing to higher product pricing and sales revenues. Shares in SK Innovation, the country's No 1 crude oil refiner, went up 1.9 percent and GS Holdings, the holding firm of the country's No 2 crude oil refiner GS Caltex, advanced 2.4 percent.