"We are seeing defensive issues in the telecommunications and utilities sectors helping markets today, as investors are now realising that technology and auto issues have risen quite a bit over a short time," said Chung Myoung-gi, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.
Shares in LG Display fell ahead of its quarterly results announcement, which came out after the market close on Wednesday. "Investors are starting to wonder if panel prices may hit a ceiling in the near future," said Cho Sung-eun, an analyst at KTB Securities.
"Flat panel demand from China has been strong. But demand tends to fall off after the Chinese New Year holidays are over, and such seasonal concerns are weighing on shares," Cho added. Shares in LG Display ended down 2.08 percent at 40,050 won.
Gains in defensive issues fuelled markets' rises as investors sought out sectors that were left out of recent rallies. Shares in South Korea's top fixed-line and broadband operator KT Corp rose 6.8 percent after it announced its 2010 business outlook on Tuesday.
Analysts said investors were positive about the company's slightly upbeat forecast. KT said on Tuesday it was aiming for 20 trillion won in sales this year, compared with 19 trillion won in 2009, and planning 3.2 trillion won in investment spending.
"The long-term potential is in its ongoing restructuring effort to reduce the workforce heavily focused on its fixed-line business and to concentrate more on its mobile and Internet TV business," said Jin Changhwan, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp KT, also South Korea's No 2 mobile carrier, in late December announced an early retirement programme to cut 16 percent of its workforce.
Shares in SK Telecom finished up 3.01 percent. Korea Electric Power Corp advanced 3.87 percent and Korea Gas jumped 5.74 percent. Samsung Electronics advanced 1.34 percent after news Google had postponed the launch of two mobile phones in China using its Android platform. Samsung Electronics would have been one of the manufacturers of the phones.
Institutions were sellers of a net 261.3 billion won worth of stocks, and foreign investors picked up a net 210.1 billion won. Retail investors bought a net 74.5 billion won worth of stocks. Decliners outnumbered advancers 501 to 291 with 82 issues ending flat.
Trading volume stood at 689 million shares worth 7.2 trillion won, compared with 378 million shares worth 5.6 trillion won in the previous session. The KOSPI 200 March futures index ended flat at 224.45, and the KOSPI 200 spot index rose 0.70 points to 224.83. The junior Kosdaq market fell 0.91 percent to close at 544.12.