South Korean stocks extended their gains to a third day to finish at a fresh all-time high Tuesday, as investors scooped up market heavyweights, such as Samsung Electronics and automakers, market analysts said. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 21.50 points, or 0.86 percent, to close at 2,523.43.

Trade volume was moderate at 310 million shares worth 7.61 trillion won ($6.79 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 459 to 333.

The local stock market opened higher despite overnight losses on Wall Street, as Samsung Electronics, the top market cap here, reported another record third-quarter business results, and vowed to return more to shareholders.

"Local companies' business performance is expected to further improve, which will fuel the local stock market climb," said Lee Kyong-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

Foreign investors bought a net 412 billion won worth of local stocks, while institutional investors dumped a net 396 billion won.

Samsung Electronics, the top market cap here, surged 1.92 percent to end at 2,764,000 won, as its third-quarter net profit more than doubled on the back of strong returns from its chip business amid an industrywide boom.

Net profit came to 11.1 trillion won, jumping from 4.53 trillion won posted a year earlier. Operating profit came to 14.53 trillion won in the July-September period, also rising sharply from 5.2 trillion won posted last year.

Also, Samsung Electronics announced plans to double dividend payments from 2018 to 2020, in line with steps to give more to shareholders in the wake of its record-breaking earning reports.

The South Korean tech giant said it plans to allocate 9.6 trillion won as dividends next year and maintain the amount for 2019 and 2020 as well. The combined dividend figure for this year is estimated at 4.8 trillion won, up 20 percent from a year earlier.

Other Samsung affiliates closed higher as well, with Samsung Life Insurance adding 4.25 percent to end at 135,000 won.

SK hynix, a major chipmaker, rose 3.01 percent to 82,200 won.

Automakers remained in positive terrain, with Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, jumping 3.21 percent to 161,000 won.

Its smaller affiliate Kia Motors advanced 2.46 percent to end at 35,400 won, and Hyundai Mobis, the largest auto parts maker, soared 4.92 percent to 266,500 won.

Hyundai Heavy Industries, the leading shipbuilder, moved up 4.33 percent to end at 156,500 won after reporting strong third-quarter earnings.

Lotte Corp., the new holding firm for South Korea's No. 5 conglomerate, surged 5.82 percent to end at 74,500 won as a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of a US advanced missile defense system seems to be easing.

The local currency closed at 1,120.40 won against the US dollar, up 4.2 won from the previous session's close. 

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 2.7 basis points to 2.164 percent and the return on benchmark five-year government bonds gained 0.8 basis point to 2.398 percent. (Yonhap)