SEOUL, March 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korean stocks rose Tuesday as foreign and institutional investors bought stocks on eased worry about the U.S. government bond yields.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 30.92 points, or 1.03 percent, to settle at 3,043.87. Trading volume stood at 1.72 billion shares worth 18.5 trillion won (16.5 billion U.S. dollars).
The KOSPI started 0.29 percent higher and stayed in the positive territory throughout the session.
The moderated concerns about the U.S. government bond yields encouraged foreign and institutional investors to purchase shares worth 442 billion won (393 million U.S. dollars) and 214.9 billion won (191 million U.S. dollars) each.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 1.43 percent overnight, after topping 1.6 percent last week.
Among large-cap shares, gainers outnumbered decliners. Leading chemical firm LG Chem jumped 7.2 percent, and market bellwether Samsung electronics added 1.3 percent. Memory chip giant SK hynix advanced 2.1 percent, and the biggest carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 0.8 percent.
The most-used search engine Naver rose 0.7 percent, but biopharmaceutical behemoth Celltrion declined 2 percent.
The small-cap KOSDAQ advanced 9.23 points, or 1.01 percent, to close at 923.17.
The local currency finished at 1,124.0 won versus the greenback, down 0.5 won from the previous close.
Bond prices ended lower. Yield on the liquid three-year Treasury notes rose 0.1 basis point to 1.021 percent, and the return on the 10-year government bonds was up 0.6 basis points to 1.966 percent. Enditem