SEOUL, June 17 (Xinhua) -- The South Korean stocks on Wednesday managed to end in positive territory despite growing geopolitical risks on the Korean Peninsula.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 3.00 points, or 0.14 percent, to settle at 2,141.05. Trading volume stood at 914.8 million shares worth 15.2 trillion won (12.5 billion U.S. dollars).
The main index bobbed in and out of the positive territory throughout the session, managing to end higher slightly though geopolitical risks emerged on the Korean Peninsula.
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) demolished the inter-Korean liaison office building in its border city of Kaesong by explosion on Tuesday.
It came in protest against anti-DPRK leaflets scattered across the inter-Korean border by South Korean civic groups, mostly composed of defectors from the DPRK. Pyongyang has cut off all communications lines with Seoul.
Market watchers said geopolitical risks had a limited impact on market sentiment owing to the recently announced positive economic data from major economies.
Foreign and institutional investors sold local stocks, but retail investors were net buyers.
Large-cap shares gained ground. Memory chip giant SK Hynix increased 1.6 percent and leading chemical firm LG Chem climbed 0.8 percent. The most-used search engine Naver advanced 3.1 percent and Samsung SDI went up 2.3 percent.
Geopolitical risks also had a limited influence on the foreign exchange market. The local currency finished at 1,213.9 won versus the greenback, down 6.7 won from the previous close.
Premium on credit default swap (CDS), which gauges credit risk on the 5-year government bonds, was unchanged at 27 basis points overnight. The average CDS premium in May was 32 basis points.
Bond prices ended lower. Yields on the liquid three-year treasury notes rose 1.4 basis points to 0.874 percent, and the return on the 10-year government bonds added 0.7 basis points to 1.409 percent. Enditem
