FX.co ★ South Korean Shares Open Higher

The benchmark KOSPI experienced a modest increase of 0.2%, reaching approximately 2,598 points on Friday, effectively offsetting a portion of the previous session's 1.2% decline. This uptick was driven by positive performance in the chipmaking and financial sectors. Nonetheless, the index appears poised for its first weekly loss in six weeks. Investors analyzed new data indicating that producer inflation decreased to a multi-month low in April, bolstering expectations of a potential policy easing by the Bank of Korea. In addition, market sentiment was buoyed after the House of Representatives approved President Trump’s tax legislation, which was perceived as a step toward providing clearer policy direction and temporarily alleviating market concerns spurred by a sharp increase in US Treasury yields. Attention now turns to the outcomes of the US-Korea discussions in Washington, scheduled to conclude today, with Seoul aiming to mitigate the effects of US tariffs. Among the major players on the index, tech behemoth Samsung Electronics saw a gain of 0.4%, while fellow chipmaker SK Hynix rose by 1.4%. In the financial sector, KB Financial, Shinhan Financial, and Hana Financial reported significant increases of 1.7%, 1.3%, and 1.5%, respectively.