[SEOUL] South Korean shares rose on Tuesday, driven by heavyweight chipmakers and foreign buying, following a tech-led Wall Street rebound overnight.
The Kospi closed 40.28 points, or 1.32 per cent, higher at 3,096.81, after gaining as much as 2.7 per cent in early trade to hit a one-week high. The index jumped 2.7 per cent on Monday, supported by robust trade data and fading volatility concerns. Chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix surged as much as 4.1 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively, while another tech heavyweight, Naver, gained 4.2 per cent to a record closing high.
The S&P 500 index registered its biggest daily percentage gain since Nov 24 on Monday after a steep sell-off last week, and technology-related shares led the advance. "US stimulus package discussion will be closely watched this week, with the size to be somewhere between the Republican's US$618 billion and the Democrat's US$1.9 trillion," said Choi Yoo-june, analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.