Seoul, June 12 (IANS) Seoul stocks were trading sharply higher on Friday morning as US President Donald Trump fuelled hopes for an end to the Iran war.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was trading up 606.46 points, or 7.81 percent, to 8,370.41, as of 11:20 am, reports Yonhap news agency.

After opening sharply higher, the index is remaining above the 8,000-point mark, as institutional and foreign investors snapped up blue chip tech stocks.

On Thursday (U.S. time) President Trump said Washington reached “a great settlement” on the war with Iran, and a deal would be signed as early as this weekend. Iran, however, has yet to confirm such a deal.

The Bank of Korea, meanwhile, reaffirmed its hawkish stance on rates, with Gov. Shin Hyun-song saying the bank should “raise interest rates without delay,” in a message marking the bank’s 76th anniversary.

Most market heavy weights were in positive territory, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

Chip giant Samsung Electronics climbed 11.37 percent, while its rival SK hynix added 8 percent.

Top car maker Hyundai Motor advanced 5.53 percent, electronics maker LG Electronics moved up 6.19 percent, and leading financial company KB Financial jumped 8.05 percent.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,519.9 won against the U.S. dollar, up 9 won from the previous session.

South Korea and other countries have been closely watching developments in the Middle East conflict, which has all but closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil, fertiliser and other commodities, and has pushed up oil prices.

“We have a signing soon and the documents are in pretty final shape. So, we’ll see. Very good … should be done pretty quickly,” Trump said.

The president added, “The Strait (of Hormuz) will officially open as soon as we sign, which could be soon, very soon, maybe over the weekend in Europe.”

Referring to the envisioned peace document, Trump said that the “most important paragraph” to him is that “Iran will, in no way, shape or form, have a nuclear weapon or purchase a nuclear weapon.”

—IANS

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