Seoul stocks extend gains late Friday morning

SEOUL, April 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks extended gains late Friday morning on the back of massive foreign buying.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) skyrocketed 62.25 points, or 3.35 percent, to 1,919.32 as of 11:20 a.m.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks rose across the board.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 4.9 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix was up 4.67 percent, and top carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 1.92 percent. Major chemical firm LG Chem jumped 7.58 percent.

In contrast, major bio firm Celltrion lost 1.86 percent, and gaming firm NCSOFT was down 1.22 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,219.4 won against the U.S. dollar, up 9.3 won from the previous session's close.

khj@yna.co.kr
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