on the local stock market, shares of samsungelectronics soared to an all-time high thursday on expectations for better performance, whichalso helped lift korea's main index, the kospi. kim hyesung has the details. shares of samsung electronics hit a new highon thursday, jumping 4-point-7 percent to close at about 14-hundred-80 u.s. dollars.
apple stock price after split, the new record comes one month after the electronicsgiant reported its best quarterly profit in more than two years, thanks to strong salesof the galaxy s-7, aggressive cost cutting and sluggish sales of apple's iphone. the success of samsung electronics' flagshipgalaxy s-7 smartphones has already fueled
a 30 percent rally in shares this year, andthat's expected to continue on high expectations for the galaxy note series. "the note 7 is expected to outsell its predecessor. its memory chips and oled products will continueto give samsung eletronics a competitve edge at least until early next year. also, expectations for samsung group's restructuringhelped boost its share price." a part of that potential restructuring wasannounced after market closing thursday but traders had already priced in the rumors. samsung life insurance said it will buy a9-percent stake in samsung securities from
another affiliate. that gave credence to expectations that samsungis taking steps to become a financial holding company. with gains for most of samsung affiliateson thursday and easing worries about a possible u.s. interest rate hike,... korea's main indexas a whole also got a boost. the benchmark kospi rose a little over a halfa percent to end at 20-55. the won closed at 1-thousand-1-hundred-7 againstthe greenback. industry insiders predict that if the koreanwon remains stable, samsung electronics could post an operating profit of more than 27 billiondollars this year.
kim hyesung, arirang news.
