Seoul shares snap 3

South Korean stocks rose more than 1.1 percent Tuesday to end a three-day losing streak thanks to sharp gains in big-cap tech and bio shares. The local currency gained ground against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 26.49 points, or 1.12 percent, to close at 2,383.51.

Trading volume was a little slim at 437.5 million shares worth 7.8 trillion won ($5.8 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 630 to 249.

Foreigners dumped a net 154.3 billion won worth of local shares, while retail investors and institutions purchased 71.4 billion won and 35.4 billion won worth of shares, respectively.

Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed as US Treasury yields dropped after hitting 5 percent and investors awaited earnings reports from tech giants, including Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., later this week.

In Seoul, big-cap tech and bio shares led the gain.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics inched up 0.15 percent to 68,500 won and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix gained 2.26 percent to 126,800 won.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution jumped 2.75 percent to 448,500 won, Samsung SDI added 1.27 percent to 480,000 won and Posco Future M went up 1.16 percent to 305,000 won.

Bio and IT shares were bullish.

Samsung Biologics soared 5.43 percent to 738,000 won and Celltrion shot up 6.76 percent after its shareholders approved a merger plan with its affiliate Celltrion Healthcare the previous day.

Internet portal operator Naver also jumped 4.88 percent to 187,000 won after it announced it won a project to create a digital twin platform for Saudi Arabian cities, and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, advanced 4.35 percent to 39,600 won.

Steel giant Posco Holdings added 4.64 percent to 474,000 won and leading chemical producer LG Chem rose 2.29 percent to 492,000 won.

But auto shares were weak.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor lost 1.4 percent to 182,800 won, its smaller affiliate Kia dropped 1.08 percent to 82,100 won and its auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.23 percent to 217,500 won.

The local currency ended at 1,343.10 won against the greenback, up 10.6 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)