SEOUL, February 03 (AJP) -Asian markets recovered Tuesday, led by the Korean market erasing much of the previous session’s steep losses after a brief bout of panic triggered by the nomination of hawkish monetary policy advocate Kevin Warsh as the next U.S. Federal Reserve chair.
The benchmark KOSPI surged 4.16 percent to move back above the 5,100 level, after briefly dipping below the 5,000 mark on Monday's slide of 5.26 percent . As of 10 a.m., the index was up 206.07 points at 5,156.74, prompting the activation of a buy-side sidecar.
Gains were broad-based across sectors. Securities firms led the rally, jumping more than 9 percent, while electronics and electrical stocks climbed around 5 percent. Construction and financial shares rose over 4 percent, and distribution, machinery and equipment, telecommunications, and medical and precision instrument stocks advanced by roughly 3 percent.
Heavyweights also traded firmly higher. SK Square gained 5.84 percent to 535,000 won, while Samsung Electronics and SK hynix each rose over 6 percent to 160,700 won, 898,000 won respectively. Samsung C&T climbed about 4.98 percent to 305,000 won, with Hanwha Aerospace and Doosan Enerbility up more than 4 percent to 1,285,000 won and 89,400 won each. Hanwha Ocean, KB Financial Group and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries posted gains of around 3 percent, trading at 139,500 won, 137,400 won and 574,000 won respectively.
The rally extended to the auto sector, Hyundai Motor rose 1.67 percent to 486,000 won, Kia up 0.73 percent to 151,200 won.
The tech-heavy KOSDAQ also advanced, rising 2.68 percent, or 29.45 points, to 1,127.81. Among large-cap stocks, Wonik IPS surged more than 12 percent to 114,500 won, while Rainbow Robotics jumped over 9.27 percent to 778,000 won. Samchundang Pharm rose around 13 percent to 527,000 won, Caregen gained 9.13 percent to 116,000 won and Medy-Tox affiliate Mezzion gained about 7.35 percent to percent 169.800 won.
In the currency market, the won strengthened as the U.S. dollar slipped 6.1 won to 1,447.40 won.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japanese shares were trading higher, with the Nikkei 225 Index gaining 2.96 percent to 54,212.79. The China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.59 percent to 4,039.34. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was trading up 0.69 percent to 26,959,76.
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