SEOUL-- Seoul shares ended on foreign buying on Wednesday. The South Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 11.66 points, or 0.47 percent, to close at 2,473.11 points.
Trading volume was moderate at 393.27 million shares worth 7.4 trillion won (US$5.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 466 to 382.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.6 percent on robust economic data showing the world's largest economy is still chugging along.
Foreigners and individuals bought a combined 210.5 billion won worth of stocks, offsetting institutions' stock selling valued at 227 billion won.
Investors remain watchful over the Fed's monetary policy as the U.S. bank signaled that it will do what is required to combat high inflation despite recession risks, analysts said.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks closed mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. rose 0.3 percent to 61,500 won, national flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. climbed 5.2 percent to 26,400 won, and leading home appliance maker LG Electronics Inc. gained 2.4 percent to 96,000 won.
Korean Air rallied before the release of robust second-quarter earnings results. Its net profit more than tripled to 450.4 billion won in the April-June quarter from a net income of 129.96 billion won a year earlier helped by robust cargo and recovering travel demand.
Among decliners, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. fell 0.3 percent to 196,500 won, state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. declined 0.5 percent to 21,800 won, and the country's leading shipbuilding group HD Hyundai shed 1 percent to 56,600 won.
The local currency was trading at 1,310.10 won against the U.S. dollar, up 0.20 won from the previous session's close.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys rose 4.9 basis points to 3.114 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds climbed 2.6 basis points to 3.134 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency