South Korean shares climb as tech rally revives on AI, crypto optimism

KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
Korean won strengthens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield steady
SEOUL, - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose on Wednesday, led by a renewed rally across tech firms amid policy optimism over artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, while broader market sentiment was on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
** The benchmark KOSPI was up 20.55 points, or 0.70%, at 2,970.85, as of 0222 GMT.
** Search engine Naver surged 15.25% and instant messenger Kakao jumped 6.37%.
** The technology sector resumed a rally seen earlier this week after President Lee Jae Myung, who has pledged to increase investment in AI, on Monday appointed Ha Jung-woo — head of the Future AI Centre at Naver, South Korea's leading web portal — as his first AI secretary.
** "A U.S. bill on stable coins also boosted investor sentiment around the sector," said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment Securities, referring to what is dubbed the GENIUS Act.
** Still, concerns over escalating hostilities in the Middle East remained at the forefront of market sentiment.
** U.S. President Donald Trump called on Tuesday for Iran's unconditional surrender and warned U.S. patience was wearing thin, but said there was no intention to kill Iran's leader "for now", as the Israel-Iran air war entered a sixth day.
** Among other index heavyweights, South Korean chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 2.07%, while peer SK Hynix lost 0.10%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.34%.
** Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 0.37% and 0.95%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings added 0.19%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0.50%.
** Of the total 935 traded issues, 469 shares advanced and 401 declined.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 81.0 billion won .
** The won was quoted at 1,372.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.12% higher than its previous close at 1,374.0.
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds lost 0.01 point to 107.20.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.5 basis point to 2.454%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose 0.5 basis point to 2.863%.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.

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