Seoul shares trade higher in late morning

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded higher late Wednesday morning led by technology stocks, but declines in utility shares capped larger gains, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 5.06 points, or
0.30 percent, to 1,686.88 as of 11:20 a.m.
Technology shares tracked rallies by their U.S. peers. Hynix Semiconductor, the
world's second-largest maker of memory chips, traded as much as 2.4 percent
higher.
Samsung Electronics rose 1.24 percent at one point in the morning after
announcing the return of former Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee to the management
of South Korea's biggest company.
But the state-run Korea Electric Power fell as much as 2 percent, weighing on the
market's advance.
The local currency was trading at 1,134.70 won to the greenback as of 11:20 a.m.,
up 2.40 won from Tuesday's close.
ylee@yna.co.kr
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