Seoul stocks end higher on finance minister's FX intervention comments

Seoul stocks ended slightly higher Friday, after South Korea's finance minister hinted at possible intervention in case of volatility in the local currency markets. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 1.06 points, or 0.05 percent, to close at 2,029.60. Trading volume was moderate at about 1.08 billion shares worth some 13.8 trillion won ($11.2 billion), with losers outnumbering gainers 461 to 384.

Foreigners sold a net 204.1 billion won, while retail investors purchased 193.4 billion won more than they sold. Institutions offloaded a net 20.7 billion won.

The main index opened lower amid escalating US-China political tensions. US President Donald Trump said he will on Friday (New York time) announce a series of countermeasures in response to China's passage of a new national security law that can severely limit the liberty of Hong Kong.

The morning losses were trimmed, however, by the afternoon announcement by Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki's criticism of the local foreign exchange market's "herd behavior" and speculative trading.

Hong said the ministry will "act boldly with its market stabilization measures if herd behavior becomes excessive in the foreign exchange market."

"(Hong) has shown strong willingness to defend the foreign exchange rates of Korean won currency (from high volatility), which seems to have had a positive impact on investor sentiment," Samsung Securities analyst Seo Jeong-hoon said.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks were mixed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics advanced 0.60 percent to 50,700 won, top pharmaceutical firm Samsung BioLogics climbed 1.80 percent and leading chemical maker LG Chem rose 0.51 percent to 622,000 won.

Among decliners, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix slipped 2.86 percent to 81,500 won. internet portal giant Naver plunged 6.03 percent to 226,000 won, with its local rival Kakao went down 1.31 percent to 263,500 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,238.50 won against the US dollar, up 1.10 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys gained 0.8 basis points to 0.826 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bond added 2.1 basis points to 1.097 percent. (Yonhap)