SEOUL, December 19 (AJP) - Asian equity markets were moderately up early Friday as they await the rate decision from the Bank of Japan.
In South Korea, the KOSPI was trading 0.4 percent up at 4,011 as of 10:30 a.m., retracing some of its earlier gains after rebounding 1 percent to track overnight Wall Street rise.
Institutional investors led the buying with net purchases of 94 billion won, while retail investors added 33.8 billion won ($23 million). Conversely, foreign investors remained net sellers, offloading 117 billion won.
The Korean won traded at 1,478.6 per dollar, down 2.1 won from the previous session. Concerns over potential volatility is looming in the morning session on the best on a rate hike in Japan.
Leading stocks showed a marked divergence. Samsung Electronics fell 0.9 percent to 106,600 won amid concerns over increasing competition from Chinese DRAM producers. However, SK hynix gained 1.5 percent to 560,000 won, as its strategic focus on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and cutting-edge chips continued to draw investor interest.
The secondary battery sector remained under pressure. LG Energy Solution dropped 2.7 percent to 368,000 won, and Samsung SDI shed 1.8 percent to 272,000 won. SK Innovation, the parent of SK On, was also trading 1.35 percent lower at 103,400 won.
The Hyundai Motor Group saw mixed results. Hyundai Motor and Kia fell 0.9 percent and 1.5 percent respectively, while Hyundai AutoEver, viewed as a key player in the group's transition to Software-Defined Vehicles (SDV), jumped 2.5 percent to 264,000 won.
In the shipbuilding sector, Hanwha Ocean surged 4.7 percent to 108,500 won after announcing a 2.6 trillion won contract to build seven LNG carriers before the market open.
The junior KOSDAQ was up 0.5 percent at 906.
New listing Rznomics, an RNA-editing drug developer, hit its daily limit, trading at 117,000 won—a 30 percent jump from its IPO price. Satellite solution startup Nara Space Technology extended its rally, climbing 20.7 percent to 37,650 won in its second day of trading.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.9 percent to 49,430, tracking overnight gains in the U.S. market.
Toyota spearheaded the advance, gaining 1.8 percent to 3,425 yen ($22). Honda, however, remained flat at 1,544 yen due to ongoing supply chain issues and recall concerns in the U.S.
Japanese semiconductor shares tracked their U.S. peers higher. Ibiden gained 3 percent, Tokyo Electron rose 2.8 percent, and Advantest was up 1.5 percent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX advanced 1.3 percent to 27,820, with TSMC leading the charge, up 1.75 percent to 1,455 Taiwan dollars ($46.1).
Mainland China markets remained largely flat as investors moved into a wait-and-watch mode ahead of the BOJ decision. The Shanghai Composite was little changed at 3,878, while the Hang Seng Index and Shenzhen Component edged up 0.2 percent and 0.3 percent respectively.
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