[THE INVESTOR] South Korean shares traded slightly higher late morning on Oct. 4, as foreign investors took interest in market giants amid rising tech and auto shares.

The benchmark KOSPI added 13.14 points to 2,056.77 as of 11:20 a.m.

Tech shares advanced ahead of the third-quarter earnings season.

Top market cap Samsung Electronics rose 1 percent as the tech giant was set to release its third-quarter earnings guidance on Oct. 6, and SK hynix, the world’s second-largest chipmaker, increased 3.48 percent.

Auto shares were in the positive terrain.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor surged 2.95 percent, and its sister company Kia Motors climbed 0.95 percent.

In contrast, bio stocks dropped sharply following heavy losses in the previous session.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, the No. 1 player in the sector, tumbled 3.54 percent after it on Friday announced its license deal on a lung cancer treatment with German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim ended. Its holding firm Hanmi Science also plummeted 5.26 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,102.8 won against the US greenback, down 1.5 won from the previous session’s close.


(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)