SEOUL, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean stocks posted the biggest yearly fall in a decade since the global financial crisis rattled the export-driven economy in 2008.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.62 percent to 2,041.04 on Friday, the last trading day of 2018. The local stock market would be closed on Monday and Tuesday for the New Year holiday.
Despite the last day's rally, the main bourse index has plunged 17.28 percent since Jan. 2. It was the biggest yearly decline since 2008 when the KOSPI dropped 40.7 percent in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
The KOSPI marked the first bearish close in four years since 2014 when the main index retreated 4.8 percent.
For the past year, investors sought to take shelter in safe-haven assets amid rising worries about trade conflict among major economies.
The widened gap in policy rates between South Korea and the United States also boosted the risk-averse sentiment as the interest rate differential could trigger foreign capital outflow from the domestic financial market.
The U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate four times this year by a quarter percentage point to a range of 2.25-2.50 percent in December, while the Bank of Korea (BOK) lifted its target rate only once this year to 1.75 percent from 1.50 percent in November.
The tech-savvy KOSDAQ index has declined 15.38 percent in 2018, the biggest yearly fall since 2008 when the index nosedived 52.8 percent. It was the first bearish turn in two years since 2016 when the second-tier index slumped 7.5 percent.
