▲ A dealing room at Hana Bank in central Seoul on July 18, 2025 (Yonhap)

stocks-morning

Seoul shares up late Mon. morning on tech gains

SEOUL, July 21 (Yonhap) -- Seoul shares traded higher late Monday morning, driven by the strong performance of big-cap tech shares and foreign purchases.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had added 14.29 points, or 0.45 percent, to 3,202.36 as of 11:20 a.m.

Foreign investors purchased 427.7 billion won (US$307 million) worth of local shares, while institutions bought 161.4 billion won. Retail investors had dumped 627.3 billion won worth of shares for profit taking.

On Friday, Wall Street closed mixed as concerns over the Trump administration's tariff policies offset the risky appetite brewed by strong U.S. retail sales data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.32 percent, and the S&P 500 edged down 0.01 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite inched up 0.05 percent.

Over the weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Aug. 1 is a "hard deadline" for Washington's reciprocal tariffs, pressuring its major trading partners to swiftly come up with terms of trade negotiations.

In Seoul, tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.19 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix gained 0.84 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution jumped 2.79 percent, and defense powerhouse Hanwha Aerospace advanced 2.23 percent.

Major power plant manufacturer Doosan Enerbility soared 3.09 percent, and steel giant POSCO Holdings surged 4.82 percent.

Leading shipbuilders Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy escalated 4.73 percent and 3.21 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, top automaker Hyundai Motor lost 0.71 percent and its sister Kia dropped 0.6 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,391.6 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., up 1.4 won from the previous session.

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