The market welcomed moves by the US Federal Reserve to keep buying assets and the Bank of Korea's decision, as expected, to hold interest rates. On Thursday, December's options and futures contracts were expiring, and this caused a flurry of programmed-trading late in the day.
The computerised buying, at 913 billion won, was the heaviest for a single day since September 14. "The good news from the Fed and foreign buying is buoying the market. However, as today saw the twin expiries of options and futures, we need to be cautious in reading too much into the index's rise," said Kim Su-young at KB Investment & Securities. Samsung Electronics rose 2.9 percent to close at a record high of 1.533 million won ($1,400). Shares in the tech giant have gained 9 percent this month.
Hyundai Motor and affiliate Hyundai Mobis also outperformed, rising by 1.5 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. Among small caps, Tongyang Inc and affiliate Tongyang Networks Corp rose by the daily permissible limit of 15 percent on hopes for a corporate restructuring. Game maker NCsoft Corp jumped 5.8 percent after it said it will launch a holding company to focus on US and European operations. Advancing shares outnumbered decliners 517 to 282. The KOSPI 200 benchmark of core stocks closed up 1.6 percent, while the junior KOSDAQ edged 1 percent higher.