Seoul shares rose on Tuesday after a rocky trading session, with resistance-triggered selloffs weighing on momentum near the 1,950 mark, but the main bourse closed out January with a 7 percent gain. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed 0.79 percent higher at 1,955.79, gaining 7.12 percent for the month.
The main bourse has struggled to break through its current 200-day moving average of 1,953.61 for the last six sessions as profit-taking weighs in the absence of significant fundamental improvements. Offshore investors bought a net 134 billion won ($118.9 million) worth of shares while institutional investors sold a net 33.9 billion won worth.
464.1 million shares exchanged hands on Tuesday, while gainers outnumbered losers 526 to 307. The KOSPI 200 index rose 0.66 percent while the junior KOSDAQ index closed 0.72 percent higher.