김나영
| 2026-04-30 11:56:21
stocks-morning
Seoul shares up late Thurs. morning on robust tech earnings
SEOUL, April 30 (Yonhap) -- Seoul stocks traded higher late Thursday morning at above the landmark 6,700-point mark as investors' risk appetite was boosted thanks to strong earnings from Samsung and U.S. big tech giants, which fueled hopes for a continued artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had added 22.91 points, or 0.34 percent, to 6,713.81 as of 11:20 a.m. after rising as high as 6,739.39 at the opening bell.
The index closed at a new peak of 6,690.90 the previous day, extending its gains to a third consecutive day.
Overnight, major U.S. indexes closed mixed, with a sharp rise in international oil prices, sparked by woes over the extended blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, weighed down on the market ahead of earnings releases of U.S. tech giants, including Alphabet, Amazon.com, Meta Platforms and Microsoft.
After the U.S. markets closed, all four companies reported stronger-than-expected revenue in the first quarter, reviving hopes for a continued AI boom.
In Seoul, market top-cap Samsung Electronics, the world's leading memory chipmaker, rose 0.22 percent, after it posted record quarterly earnings in the first three months of this year.
Its chipmaking rival SK hynix advanced 1.39 percent and AI investment firm SK Square jumped 5.42 percent. Major electrical firms Samsung Electro-Mechanics surged 3.63 percent.
Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace also soared 2.04 percent as it reported strong earnings on the back of robust arms exports, and Doosan Robotics spiked 8.02 percent on news that it is pushing for technology cooperation with AI chip giant Nvidia.
But top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 2.52 percent and its sister Kia dipped 1.78 percent.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 1.59 percent as it swung to a net loss in the first quarter due to the slowdown of the electric vehicle market.
The Korean won was trading at 1,486.6 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 7.6 won from the previous session.
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