South Korean stocks closed marginally higher Friday, as investors took to the sidelines ahead of the release of a key U.S. jobs report. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 7.44 points, or 0.29 percent to 2,563.71. Trading volume was moderate at 486.1 million shares worth 9.89 trillion won (US$7.5 billion) with decliners outnumbering gainers 549 to 315.
"The U.S. August employment report is set to be released Friday (local time), prodding investors to take a wait-and-see approach," Seo Jung-hun, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co., said.
"As the interest rate hike cycle has weighed down on the stock market, we need some signs of a slowdown in the labor market," Seo said.
Wall Street ended mixed Thursday (U.S. time) as investors cemented bets the Fed will pause the interest rate hike, after data showed the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index, a key gauge of inflation, rose 3.3 percent in July on an annual basis, in line with the consensus.
The core PCE price index, which excludes volatile food and energy, rose 4.2 percent in the same month on the annual basis in line with the market estimate.
Expectations for a rate pause are growing as the world's largest economy is showing signs of a slowdown, backed by latest moderate data in private hiring released earlier in the week that indicated a slowdown in employment.
The KOSPI moved in and out of positive terrain in choppy trading, with the direction of stocks varying by sectors.
Top-cap Samsung Electronics jumped 6.13 percent to 71,000 won, after media reports speculating it has won a deal to supply Nvidia Corp. with its advanced high bandwidth memory chips, or HBM3, used for artificial intelligence technologies.
SK hynix, which already supplies Nvidia, fell 1.48 percent to 120,000 won.
Big-cap battery makers ended lower. LG Energy Solution dipped 4.04 percent to 522,000 won, and Samsung SDI lost 2.93 percent to 596,000 won.
Automakers fell. Hyundai Motor slid 0.9 percent to 187,400 won and its smaller affiliate Kia shed 0.62 percent to 79,700 won.
Home appliance maker LG Electronics gained 1.12 percent to 99,600 won. LG Household & Health Care advanced 4.31 percent to 484,500 won.
The Korean won ended at 1,318.80 won against the U.S. dollar, up 3.0 won from Thursday's close, after the country reported a trade surplus in August, marking a surplus for three consecutive months.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys slid 2.2 basis points to 3.689 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds fell 3.3 basis points to 3.717 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency