(2nd LD) Seoul shares end higher on easing oil prices

SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended higher on Thursday, buoyed by a decline in oil prices following U.S. President Donald Trump's reassurance about a brief duration of conflict with Iran. After opening 1.33 percent up, the KOSPI gained 16.76 points, or 0.26 percent, to close at 6,579.48.

The market rally followed the previous day's sharp drop, where the main index plummeted 3.99 percent due to worries about Middle East tensions and potential additional Federal Reserve rate hikes. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite both saw gains of 0.56 percent and 0.45 percent, respectively, during the overnight session.

President Trump stated that further U.S. attacks on Iran would likely be short-lived, which helped alleviate concerns about inflation. The trading volume for the day stood at 353.93 million shares valued at 18.89 trillion won (US$14 billion), with more stocks losing value than gaining, 431 to 424.

Institutions, foreign investors, and individual traders were among the net sellers, collectively offloading 215.2 billion won, 423.4 billion won, and 954.9 billion won worth of stocks, respectively. Within the KOSPI, auto and aerospace companies led the gains. Hyundai Motor and Hanwha Aerospace were among the top gainers, rising 1.46 percent to 383,500 won and 2.15 percent to 1.04 million won, respectively.

Shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean also performed well, jumping 5.49 percent to 86,500 won, while shipping firm HMM increased 2.64 percent to 21,350 won.

Decliners included Samsung Electronics and its rival chipmaker SK hynix, both of which dropped 0.2 percent to 250,000 won and 1.05 percent to 1.59 million won, respectively. At 3:30 p.m., the Korean won was trading at 1,359.3 won against the U.S. dollar, down from 1,368.7 won in the prior trading session. Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, also closed higher, with the yield on three-year Treasurys falling 4.2 basis points to 3.888 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds declining 4.9 basis points to 4.118 percent.