Seoul, June 24 (IANS) South Korean stocks extended their gains on Wednesday morning as individual investors went bargain hunting following the previous session’s massive sell-off in technology stocks.

After opening 1.86 percent higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 272.43 points, or 3.32 percent, to 8,476.27 as of 11:20 am, reports Yonhap news agency.

Overnight, Wall Street closed lower as sharp declines in memory chip and semiconductor stocks weighed on investor sentiment amid broader concerns about the artificial intelligence sector.

In Seoul, blue chip technology shares traded in positive territory.

Semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK hynix gained 7.26 percent and 2.43 percent, respectively.

Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronic components affiliate of Samsung Electronics, went up 2.06 percent.

Automobile shares were also among the gainers.

Industry leader Hyundai Motor moved up 0.59 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia advanced 2.4 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,536.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., up 2.4 won from the previous session.

Meanwhile, South Korea will continue its push for inclusion in the developed-market category under the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) index after the provider decided to keep Asia’s No. 4 economy in the emerging-market category, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

Overnight, MSCI said South Korea will remain in the emerging-market category despite Seoul’s efforts to be placed on the watch list for inclusion in the developed-market category, citing the limited convertibility of the Korean won in offshore currency markets.

“MSCI acknowledged the government’s efforts to advance the foreign exchange and capital markets, but for some of the remaining tasks, efforts to improve the system are still under way,” the Ministry of Finance and Economy said in a statement in response to the announcement.

The finance ministry added that South Korea was not included in the developed-market category this year as the market also needed time to fully reflect the impact of the completed reforms.

“If we continue to implement reforms in the foreign exchange and capital markets on our own schedule, we believe we can be included among advanced economies,” the finance ministry said.

It added that the country will continue efforts to communicate with major overseas investors and reflect their feedback in its policies.

South Korea has been pushing for inclusion in the MSCI developed-market category in 2027, setting 39 key tasks to achieve the goal and planning to complete 28 of them by the end of this month.

—IANS

na/