SEOUL, Aug 9: Seoul shares regained some ground on late Friday morning, after earlier hitting a 2-1/2-week low when market heavyweights such as Samsung rallied, but gains were limited due by remaining doubts over China’s economic prospects.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.1 percent at 1,886.01 points as of 0225 GMT after touching a session low at 1,876.07 points, the lowest intraday level since July 22.
‘Chinese inflation figures (out on Friday) had little impact on investor sentiment and now people are turning to more data due later in the day,’ said Kim Byung-yeon, a market analyst of Woori Investment & Securities.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd gained 1.6 percent after Standard & Poor’s raised the company’s rating by one notch to A-plus while Fitch Ratings said Samsung’s credit quality will not suffer from U.S. President Barack Obama’s overturn of a ban on importing certain Apple products.
Samsung awaits the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) decisions Friday and Saturday on patent infringement cases versus its rival Apple Inc.
Smartphone maker LG Electronics Inc rose 1.5 percent after launching some of its new smartphones early Thursday, Seoul time, winning good feedback from buyers.
The world’s No.2 memory chip maker Hynix Semiconductor rose 3.1 percent.
Decliners outnumbered gainers 445 to 311.
The KOSPI 200 benchmark of core stocks rose 0.3 percent, while the junior KOSDAQ stayed flat at 555.38. ($1 = 1113.0000 Korean won)
(AGENCIES)
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