[THE INVESTOR]  South Korean stocks extended gains late morning on Sept. 19, helped by eased worries about a possible US rate hike.

The benchmark KOSPI gained 11.92 points, or 0.60 percent, to 2,011.28 as of 11:15 a.m.

The main index continued to gain after marking a 0.4 percent increase for the whole of last week. On Sept. 13, it closed at 1,999.36. The local bourse closed from Sept. 14 due to Chuseok.




Investors will closely watch the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s discussion of monetary policy in September, which will be released later this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.49 percent, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index declining 0.1 percent.

Most large-cap stocks advanced across the board.

Samsung Electronics rose 1.96 percent, leading cosmetics maker AmorePacific gained 2.78 percent and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix was up 3.31 percent.

Meanwhile, top automaker Hyundai Motor was down 0.36 percent and state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. declined 0.17 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,121.10 won against the US dollar, down 2.30 won from the previous session’s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)