South Korean shares closed slightly higher on Monday despite an increase in tensions between the US and Iran after the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Spruance intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel called Touska near the Strait of Hormuz and Iran issued a warning to the US in the aftermath of the incident.
Investors chose to shift their focus on the upcoming first-quarter earnings season instead.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or Kospi rose 27.17 points, or 0.4%, to end at 6,219.09. The Kosdaq also increased by 4.81 points, or 0.4%, to close at 1,174.85.
In corporate news, SK Hynix (KRX:000660) began the mass production of high-capacity 192GB products, which are optimized for Nvidia's Vera Rubin platform, the chipmaker said in a Monday release.
The SOCAMM2 192GB (gigabyte) product is a memory module standard that is based on 10-nanometer class 6th generation (1c) LPDDR5X low-power dynamic random access memory.
Shares of the chipmaker increased over 3% at market close.
In other news, South Korean credit rating firms Korea Ratings, Korea Investors Service, and NICE Investors Service upgraded Hyundai Rotem's (KRX:064350) credit rating to AA- from A+.
The upgrades were based on the defense systems manufacturer's strong capability to repay debt, improved earnings, and financial stability.
Shares of Hyundai Rotem rose nearly 2% at market close.