South Korean stocks closed 0.88 percent higher Friday, as Greece finally settled on its long-pending debt swap plan to restructure its troubled fiscal health, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark gained 17.54 points to finish at 2,018.30. Trading volume was moderate at 406.4 million shares worth 5.31 trillion won ($4.76 billion) with gainers outpacing decliners 442 to 349.

“Since the Greece deal has made a breakthrough, there’s no particular external factor that would disturb the market as for now,” said Kim Joo-yong, an analyst at Bookook Securities Co.

The debt-ridden European nation was able to secure consent from over 85 percent of its bondholders for a debt write-down, in order to prevent a disorderly default. The creditors need to write down more than half of their debts worth 206 billion euros, and Greece will be able to get an additional 130 billion euro rescue fund from European neighbors.

With Greece breathing a sense of relief into the market amid the nagging eurozone crisis and recent upbeat economic data from the United States, the KOSPI will likely trend upward, but move in rangebound trading in the short-term, Kim added. 

(Yonhap News)