Hong Kong: Seoul’s Kospi was among the best performers Friday and the won strengthened as the leaders of North and South Korea held a historic summit, while other Asian markets also enjoyed gains following a US rally.
After fluctuating through the week, regional stocks were on course for a positive finish as Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in met on the border of the rival countries for talks expected to touch on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
Kim said he was “determined to send a starting signal at the threshold of a new history”, while Moon said he was hoping for “a bold agreement so that we may give a big gift to the whole Korean people and the people who want peace”.
With hopes for a positive outcome from the meeting — the first between the countries’ leaders since 2007 — Seoul stocks rose 0.7 percent in early trade, while the won climbed 0.4 percent against the dollar.
“Of course we should always be on guard for a negative development… but as far as we can tell from the recent remarks by North Korea, the summit will be reconciliatory,” Makoto Sengoku, market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute, told AFP.
The upbeat mood from the meeting coincided with a much-needed rally across US markets thanks to another round of healthy corporate earnings.
US technology firms enjoyed a much-needed lift after Facebook posted a 63 percent rise in first-quarter profit, undented by a consumer data scandal.
The social media giant’s shares soared 9.1 percent while other tech titans also climbed, with Amazon, Google parent Alphabet and Microsoft all up around two percent or more.
Source: Brecorder
