SKorean stocks finish worst year since 2000
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – South Korea’s benchmark stock index rose slightly Tuesday, but still closed out its worst year since 2000.
The South Korean won had its biggest annual drop against the dollar since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 6.88 points, or 0.6 percent, to finish 2008 at 1,124.47.
The Kospi, however, fell 40.7 percent in 2008, its third worst performance ever and biggest decline since plunging 50.9 percent in 2000. The index’s second-largest decline was in 1997, when it fell 42.2 percent.
South Korean stocks, which had risen for five straight years through 2007, fell this year as foreign investors sold shares at a record pace. Foreign investors were net sellers of shares to the tune of 33.6 trillion won ($26.7 billion), according to figures from the Korea Exchange.
The South Korean won rose 0.3 percent against the dollar Tuesday to 1,259.50, but finished the year down 25.7 percent for the currency’s second straight annual decline following a marginal drop of 0.7 percent last year.
The decline in 2008 was the won’s biggest since it fell 50.2 percent in 1997.
The won, one of the world’s worst performing currencies this year, at one point had declined 38 percent, but rallied toward the end of the year, gaining 16.6 percent in December.
Tuesday was the final trading day of 2008 in South Korean financial markets, which reopen Friday.
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