[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks climbed 0.8 percent late morning on Aug. 30, on renewed sentiment following Wall Street’s overnight rise.

The benchmark KOSPI rose 16.27 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,048.62 as of 11:20 a.m.

Foreigners and institutional investors were net-buyers of shares, while individuals were net-sellers.

The KOSPI’s upswing came after recording a four-day losing streak amid widespread expectations that the US Federal Reserve will raise the key interest rate at least once within this year.

Many market watchers, however, are betting that the Fed will take the action in December, not next month, and Japan and other major economies will stick to monetary easing.

“The timing of a rate hike in the US is on the table, but chances are high that its policy move will be considerably slow down the road,” said Park Seok-hyun, an analyst at Eugene Investment. “The Fed won‘t rush to another interest hike.”

Large caps were mixed.

Samsung Electronics jumped 1.52 percent, with global chipmaker SK hynix gaining 0.41 percent. The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. shed 0.52 percent.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor was flat.

The South Korean won was trading at 1,118.90 won against the US greenback, up 6.10 won from the previous session’s close.


(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)