Seoul stocks extend gains late Thur. morning on U.S. rally, vaccine hopes

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shares extended gains late Thursday morning as investor sentiment was spurred by an overnight Wall Street rally and vaccine hopes.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 33.45 points, or 1.41 percent, to 2,397.82 as of 11:20 a.m.

The strong start has the KOSPI poised to extend its winning streak for a third session.

The gain was largely buoyed by advances of tech and health care heavyweights in the U.S. stock markets, a booster for foreign buying.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 454.84 points, or 1.59 percent, to close at 29,100.5 on Wednesday (New York time). The S&P 500 rose 1.54 percent, and the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite was up 0.98 percent.

Investors also pinned high hopes on optimism for COVID-19 vaccine development, in addition to the central banks' repeated signal to keep ample liquidity in the pandemic-hit financial markets.

In Seoul, most large caps at the main bourse traded higher.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics surged 4.04 percent, with No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix spiking 4.5 percent.

Internet portal giant Naver added 0.45 percent, while its rival Kakao dipped 0.85 percent.

Leading chemical maker LG Chem jumped 2.7 percent, and EV battery maker Samsung SDI edged up 0.11 percent.

Top pharmaceutical company Samsung Biologics gained 1.69 percent, while Celltrion shed 0.5 percent.

Hyundai Motor, the country's largest automaker, remained flat, and top steelmaker POSCO added 0.27 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,186.35 won against the U.S. dollar, down 0.95 won from the previous session's close.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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