Seoul stock market hits new high on inter-Korean summit
SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) hit a record high Tuesday on the back of the second inter-Korean summit.
The KOSPI index closed up by 51.42 points, or 2.62 percent to 2,014.09, exceeding the 2,000-point mark again in about two months. The previous record close of 2,004.22 was set on July 25.
The volume of KOSPI was moderate at 467.3 million shares worth 8.01 trillion won (8.77 billion U.S. dollars).
"Investor sentiment was underpinned by overnight gains in U.S. markets and the inter-Korean summit," Lee Kyoung-su, an analyst at Daewoo Securities Co., was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap News Agency as saying.
The inter-Korean summit would help dispel the so-called "Korea Discount" in the middle and long term, which refers to the undervaluation of South Korean stocks, Lee said.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun walked across the inter-Korean border earlier in the day for a summit with Kim Jong Il, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)in Pyongyang.
Roh's visit is expected to promote inter-Korean economic cooperation and boost inter-Korean relations.