South Korea shares close at record high as US rate cut bets outweigh trade gloom

Published on 10/15/2025 at 03:09 am EDT

• KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
• Korean won strengthens against dollar
• South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

(Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares closed at a record high on Wednesday on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will be able to resume interest rate cuts, even as angst persisted over renewed U.S.-China trade tensions. The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
** The benchmark KOSPI rose 95.47 points, or 2.68%, to close at 3,657.28.
** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 3.71% and peer SK Hynix gained 2.67%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.39%.
** The U.S. labour market remained mired in its low-hiring, low-firing doldrums through September, though the economy "may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday.
** Policymakers will take a "meeting-by-meeting" approach to rate cuts as they balance job market weakness with above-target inflation, Powell added.
** On Tuesday, the U.S. and China began charging additional port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil, making the high seas a key front in the trade war between the world's two largest economies.
** Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 0.22% and up 1.27%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 0.18%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics rose 9.74%.
** Of the total 929 traded issues, 761 shares advanced, while 127 declined.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 162.8 billion won.
** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,419.7 per dollar, up 0.6% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,417.2.
** The KOSPI has risen 52.42% so far this year.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.9 basis points to 2.518%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 1.0 basis points to 2.855%.
 (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Janane Venkatraman) 

Sumber : Reuters