Seoul shares rose on Wednesday after four sessions of falls, lifted by advances in automakers and shipbuilders including Hyundai Motor and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up 1.6 percent at 2,135.78 points. Foreign investors however remained net sellers of stocks for a fifth consecutive session, offloading 53 billion Korean won ($48.7 million) worth.
Foreign investors were net buyers of 3 trillion won worth of stocks in April, Korea Exchange data showed. Shares in shipyards rallied amid order hopes. Hyundai Heavy Industries jumped 6.6 percent after news the company won a combined order, reportedly worth around $500 million, to build up to five shuttle tankers for Norway-based Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers. Shares in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering climbed 5.3 percent and Samsung Heavy Industries rose 5.4 percent.
Woori Finance Holdings gave up earlier gains of as much as 2.2 percent to end up 0.4 percent. Shares had risen on market talk Shinhan Financial Group may bid for the firm after the government said on Tuesday it would resume the sale of its 57 percent stake in Woori, five months after an earlier auction failed due to a lack of interest. Woori shares had lost ground on Tuesday on the concerns about a lack of bidders for the group.