Seoul shares up on Wall Street gains

SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks gained moderately late Friday morning, moving in line with overnight U.S. gains, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 8.83 points, or
0.81 percent, to 1,093.55 as of 11:20 a.m.
"Foreign investors are continuing to shore up the market for the
fourth-consecutive session on the back of overnight Wall Street gains and
confidence from rate cuts and the (recently announced) currency swap
arrangement," said Song Young-geun, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.
U.S. stocks finished higher Thursday following a report that the U.S. gross
domestic product fell 0.3 percent, a smaller than expected drop, in the third
quarter. The Dow Jones rose 2.11 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 2.49
percent.
Steel and shipyard stocks, which suffered hefty losses recently, led the overall
gains but financials and tech exporters lost ground on profit taking after
KOSPI's 12-percent gain on Thursday.
The local currency was trading at 1,266.25 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 16.25 won from Thursday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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