South Korean shares made the first rebound in three days Friday as expectations are running high for the U.S. economic recovery ahead of the year-end shopping season.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 6. 8 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 1,964.84. Trading volume stood at 341.88 million shares worth 4.18 trillion won (3.75 billion U.S. dollars).
Expectations spread that global stocks, especially the U.S. stock market, may rebound as the year-end shopping season, called Black Friday, would boost corporate earnings in the world's largest economy.
During the year-end shopping season, almost all American companies entered a big discount to sell inventory of goods, causing a big growth in sales and turning their accounting book from the red to the black.
Foreigners kept a buying trend for four straight sessions, and institutional investors raised stock holdings by 71.7 billion won. Retail investors sold stocks worth 150.7 billion won to lock in recent profits.
Large-cap shares ended mixed. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.1 percent, and Samsung SDS, the technology services unit of Samsung Group, added 0.5 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO rose 1.5 percent, but the No.1 carmaker Hyundai Motor declined 1.2 percent. Memory chip giant SK Hynix lost 1.7 percent, and Naver, the owner of the country's most-used search engine, retreated 3.3 percent.
The South Korean currency finished at 1,113.8 won against the greenback, up 1.3 won from Thursday's close.
Bond prices ended lower. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes gained 0.5 basis points to 2.161, and the return on the benchmark 10-year government bonds added 1.0 basis point to 2. 725 percent.