SEOUL– Seoul shares trimmed earlier gains late Thursday morning after the Federal Reserve delivered a small rate hike while acknowledging progress in its battle against inflation.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had risen 5.35 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,455.15 points as of 11:20 a.m. The KOSPI opened higher, tracking gains on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.02 percent higher at 34,092.96 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 2 percent to 11,816.32.
The Fed raised the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points Wednesday (U.S. time) as expected, and its Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank needs “substantially more evidence” to be confident that inflation is on a downward path.
Foreigners bought a net 153 billion won (US$125 million) worth of stocks, offsetting institutions and individuals’ stock selling valued at 224 billion won.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.5 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. climbed 1.5 percent, AmorePacific Corp. jumped 7.7 percent, and leading car battery maker LG Energy Solution gained 0.2 percent.
Among decliners, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. fell 0.2 percent, national flag carrier Korean Air Co. declined 1 percent, and state-run Korea Gas Corp. shed 2 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,218.45 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 12.85 won from the previous session’s close.
Source: Yonhap News Agency