South Korean shares extended gains and logged a third weekly gain on Friday, led by Hyundai Motor on optimism over earnings growth and a potential deeper tie-up with U.S. chipmaker Nvidia. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
The benchmark KOSPI closed up 33.95 points, or 0.75%, at 4,586.32.
Shares of Hyundai Motor rallied nearly 8% as investors remained bullish on the planned deployment in its factories of Atlas humanoid robots and the company's potential partnership with Nvidia.
South Korea said on Friday it will open up its currency market to allow 24-hour trading starting in July, further removing restrictions on onshore trading in a bid to win an upgrade to developed-market status, the finance ministry said.
Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 0.14%, while peer SK Hynix lost 1.59%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.82%.
Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 7.49% and 6.65%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 1.16%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0.37%.
Of the total 930 traded issues, 540 shares advanced, while 341 declined.
Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 1,595.1 billion won.
The won was quoted at 1,457.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.40% lower than its previous close at 1,451.8.
The KOSPI has risen 8.83% so far this year.
The won has weakened 1.2% against the dollar so far this year.
In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds (KTBc1) lost 0.09 point to 105.37.
The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield (KR3YT=RR) rose 2.9 basis points to 2.940%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose 3.6 basis points to 3.385%.


Sumber : Reuters