South Korean shares track Wall Street gains on rate-cut hopes

Published on 08/25/2025 at 03:22 am EDT

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

(Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
South Korean shares rose on Monday, tracking Wall Street's rally on optimism the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month after Chair Jerome Powell's dovish pivot last week. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
The benchmark KOSPI closed up 41.13 points, or 1.30%, at 3,209.86. [enter] Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 0.14%, while peer SK Hynix gained 3.39%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 3.40%.
Powell on Friday signalled a possible interest rate cut at the U.S. central bank's meeting next month, saying that risks to the job market were rising but inflation remained a threat, and that a decision wasn't set in stone.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively, on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.2% to a record intraday high.
Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 0.91% and down 0.10%, respectively, on Monday. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 2.00%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics was flat.
Of the total 934 traded issues, 602 shares advanced, while 271 declined. [enter] Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 27.0 billion won.
The won was quoted at 1,384.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.09% lower than its previous close at 1,383.5.
In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,384.9 per dollar, down 0.1% on the day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,382.2.
The KOSPI has risen 33.77% so far this year. [enter] The won has strengthened 6.3% against the dollar this year.
The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.2 basis points to 2.434%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.2 basis point to 2.853%.
 (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) 

Sumber : Reuters