Seoul shares up 1.2 pct late Fri. morning on tech, financial gains

South Korean stocks climbed more than 1.2 percent late Friday morning as investors purchased techs and financial despite overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 32.14 points, or 1.22 percent, to 2,660.76 as of 11:20 a.m. Overnight, Wall Street lost ground as Meta and other big tech companies retreated as the U.S. economy expanded at a sharply slower-than-expected pace in the first quarter. The S andP 500 dropped 0.5 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 0.6 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1 percent. In Seoul, tech shares led the overall gains, with market heavyweight Samsung Electronics rising 1.31 percent and chip rival SK hynix soaring 4.22 percent. Finance stocks also advanced, with KB Financial surging 7.79 percent and Shinhan Financial jumping 5.52 percent. In contrast, auto and energy shares traded lower. Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 1 percent and leading refiner SK Innovation shed 0.56 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,374.80 won against the greenback, up 0.2 won from the previous session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency