Seoul shares up on foreign buying

SEOUL, Sept. 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks gained ground late Wednesday morning as foreign investors picked up machinery, tech and other large caps, shrugging off a downswing in Wall Street's past session, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 13.36 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,494.73 as of 11:20 a.m.
"Wall Street losses in Tuesday's trading didn't seem to affect market here that
much, with investor sentiment seemingly showing signs of a recovery," said Bae
Sung-young, an analyst at Hyundai Securities.
U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as the government's proposed $700 billion bail-out plan
for its ailing financial system could be delayed amid congressional wrangling.
The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 1.47 percent and the tech-dominated
Nasdaq composite index lost 1.18 percent.
Veteran investor Warren Buffett's reported plan to invest US$5 billion in Goldman
Sachs also seems to have added comfort to investor sentiment, Kim noted.
Machinery and tech stocks drove the index higher. Top power generator producer
Doosan Heavy Industries surged 5 percent and market heavyweight Samsung
Electronics added 0.54 percent.
Energy shares also enjoyed gains, with S-Oil, South Korea's third-largest
refiner, rising more than 2 percent and its larger rival SK Energy also climbing
0.71 percent.
Lender and steelmakers, however, lost ground. Top lender Kookmin Bank tumbled
2.77 percent and leading steelmaker POSCO inched down 0.21 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,152.8 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 3.8 won from Tuesday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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