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2025-07-30 10:56:40
South Korean stocks hit a four-year high on Wednesday, driven by expectations of a US-South Korea trade deal. South Korean stocks climbed to their highest level in nearly four years on Wednesday, led by major exporters on optimism about trade talks with the United States ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline. The benchmark Kospi index rose 20.35 points, or 0.63%, to 3,250.92, its highest level since August 2021. South Korea said on Wednesday that three cabinet-level officials met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Ratnick in Washington to promote a trade deal. South Korea clashed head-on with a key U.S. official who has pushed for tough negotiations just before the August 1 deadline. Among heavyweight stocks, Samsung Electronics rose 2.55% after the chipmaker signed a $16.5 billion chip supply deal with U.S. electric car maker Tesla earlier this week. Peer SK Hynix was flat. Battery maker LG Energy Solution was essentially flat after signing a $4.3 billion contract to supply Tesla with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for energy storage systems. Peers Samsung SDI and SK Innovation surged 7.54% and 6.28% respectively. Hyundai Motor and its sister automaker Kia Motors rose 1.61% and 2.37% respectively.
