South Korean shares rebound on Draghi comments

 The South Korean shares ended a three-day fall Tuesday as European Central Bank (ECD) President Mario Draghi's comments spurred expectations that Europe is on the verge of expanding its quantitative easing.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 23.38 points, or 1.2 percent, to close at 1,967.01. Trading volume stood at 243.9 million shares worth 4.1 trillion won (3.73 billion U.S. dollars).
Draghi said during a testimony to the European Parliament that he may add stimulus if inflation fails to an anticipated level, indicating an expansion of its bond-buying program to government bonds.
Foreign investors bought local stocks by more than 200 billion won, and local institutions purchased shares worth about 50 billion won. Retail investors reduced stock holdings by 295.5 billion won.
Expectations remained for an additional stimulus package in Japan as the world's third-largest economy posted a negative growth in the third quarter. Japan's gross domestic product shrank 1.6 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, missing market expectations of an over 2-percent growth.
Most large-cap shares gained ground. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 1.2 percent, and memory chip giant SK Hynix gained 1.1 percent. Naver, the owner of most-used search engine, climbed 2.6 percent, and the No.1 mobile operator SK Telecom jumped 4.6 percent.
Samsung SDS, the technology services unit of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate, surged more than 8 percent, becoming the fourth-largest share in terms of total market value. The company was listed on the main bourse on Nov. 14.
Financial shares lost ground. Top life insurer Samsung Life Insurance declined 2.4 percent, and leading banking group KB Financial Group lost 1 percent.
The South Korean currency finished at 1,099.0 won against the greenback, down 5.1 won from Monday's close.
Bond prices ended higher. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes fell 0.9 basis points to 2.180 percent, and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bonds lost 1.4 basis points to 2.748 percent.