Seoul shares jump 2.84 pct on Bernanke's speech

(ATTN: ADDS bond yields at bottom)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks surged 2.84 percent Monday on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's remarks last week that the U.S. central bank still has tools to stimulate its weak economy, analysts said. The local currency rose against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 50.55 points to close at 1,829.50, the third straight session of gains. Trading volume was moderate at 330.5 million shares worth 6.4 trillion won (US$5.96 billion), with gainers outpacing losers 687 to 173.
"The Fed chairman left open the door for additional steps to stimulate the fragile economy even as he did not lay out a fresh round of bond-buying programs," said Kwak Joong-bo, an analyst at Samsung Securities Co.
On Friday, Bernanke stopped short of hinting at a third round of quantitative easing, known as QE3 in markets, to support the weakening economy at a conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. But he said the central bank still has policy tools to stimulate the economy and will extend its September policy meeting to two days to mull its options.
"The Korean market is likely to gain ground this week, but it is too early to say that the Seoul bourse is on the upward path as a batch of economic data abroad due out is likely to point to a global slowdown," Kwak said.
The KOSPI was propelled by sustained money inflows from institutional investors. The index rose as much as 3.24 percent at one point even as foreign investors offloaded local stocks.
Chip giant Hynix Semiconductor soared 8.36 percent to 19,450 won on news that key chip prices rebounded. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics advanced 0.96 percent to 733,000 won.
Top mobile carrier SK Telecom gained 3.81 percent to 150,000 won after it won the right at auction to use the "golden" 1.8 GHz spectrum band for its super-fast wireless service.
Shipbuilders and oil-reinfers were also in focus. Top shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries jumped 9.06 percent to 349,000 won and top refiner SK Innovation climbed 7.12 percent to 165,500 won.
The local currency closed at 1,074 won to the greenback, up 7.8 won from Friday's close, affected by the widened current account surplus, dealers said.
The Bank of Korea said earlier in the day that the country's current account surplus hit a nine-month high of $4.94 billion in July on record exports.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasuries rose 0.03 percentage point to 3.51 percent and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds also added 0.03 percentage point to 3.66 percent.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr