Off the wire
• U.S.-led coalition destroys IS-occupied Turkish consulate in Mosul  • Roundup: Indian-controlled Kashmir gets first woman chief minister  • Tokyo shares end mixed on firm yen, U.S. data  • S.Korea to spend fiscal funds to develop supercomputer better than AlphaGo  • Gov't-backed investment firm becomes Agricultural Bank shareholder  • NBA standings  • India should continue pace of reform, says Finance Minister  • Urgent: First batch of deported migrants arrive in western Turkey  • 2nd LD: First batch of deported migrants arrive in western Turkey  • 1st LD: First batch of migrants deported from Greece arrive in western Turkey  
You are here: 　 Home

Roundup: S.Korean shares rise on hopes for Samsung earnings

Xinhua, April 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean shares started off the first day of this week in positive territory on Monday as market players raised hopes for optimistic first-quarter earnings from Samsung Electronics, the biggest-cap stock in the local stock market.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.40 points, or 0.27 percent, to settle at 1,978.97. Trading volume stood at 359.06 million shares worth 4.19 trillion won (3.66 billion U.S. dollars).

Samsung shares led the KOSPI gain ahead of the announcement of its first-quarter earnings results scheduled for Thursday. Market watchers forecast Samsung may announce better-than-expected earnings thanks to strong demand for newly released smartphones.

Improved employment data in the United States also helped shore up investors'sentiment in the local stock market.

Foreigners bought a net 59 billion won worth of domestic stocks, and retail investors raised stock holdings by 61 billion won. Local financial institutions dumped shares worth 193 billion won, limiting the KOSPI's further advance.

Market watchers said investors may keep a wait-and-see stance to confirm how Samsung's first-quarter earnings will come out, predicting a narrow-range move before Thursday.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics advanced 2 percent, and leading cosmetics company Amore Pacific climbed 3.7 percent. Top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance rose 0.9 percent, and the most-used search engine Naver jumped 3.7 percent.

Auto shares lost ground on negative outlook for first-quarter earnings. The biggest automaker Hyundai Motor declined 3.7 percent, and its affiliate Kia Motors shed 2.7 percent. The No.1 auto parts manufacturer Hyundai Mobis slumped 3.1 percent.

The state-run power supplier Korea Electric Power Corp. lost 0.3 percent, and leading shipping firm Hyundai Merchant Marine tumbled 4.6 percent.

South Korea's currency finished at 1,146.1 won against the greenback, up 8.1 won from Friday's close. The dollar weakness trend continued on expectations for later-than-expected rate hikes in the United States.

Bond prices ended higher. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes fell 0.8 basis points to 1.440 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bonds shed 3.0 basis points to 1.766 percent. Endit