Seoul shares closed higher on Tuesday as foreign and institutional investors scooped up market heavyweights following overnight US gains. The local currency fell against the US dollar.

After a choppy session, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) went up 20.69 points, or 0.69 percent, to 3,020.24 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 593 million shares worth some 11.9 trillion won ($10.1 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 524 to 333.

Individuals sold a net 1.96 trillion won worth of stocks while institutions and foreigners purchased a net 1.52 trillion won and 439.1 billion won, respectively.

The Kospi opened mildly higher, tracking the overnight Wall Street rally that drove up the S&P 500 to a record high for a second consecutive session on the back of a so-called "Santa Claus Rally" to end the year.

The index then traded slightly lower on apparent profit-taking but soon pared earlier losses in the afternoon session.

"Stocks related to transfer tax of major shareholders were poured into the market but institutional buying expanded in time for the dividend record date" Kim Seok-hwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, said, adding that the overnight US market rally also acted positively.

Most large-cap stocks traded higher across the board.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics inched up 0.12 percent to 80,300 won, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix went up 1.19 percent to 127,500 won, top carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.23 percent to 214,000 won, and No. 1 portal operator Naver gained percent 1.05 percent to 384,500 won.

Pharmaceutical giant Celltrion jumped 5.88 percent to 216,000 won, and Samsung Biologics, a bio unit of Samsung Group, went up 0.56 percent to 891,000 won.

Among losers, carmaker Kia went down 0.35 percent to 84,500 won and bio firm SK Bioscience lost 0.89 percent to 221,500 won.

The local currency closed at 1,188 won against the US dollar, down 1.2 won from the previous session's loss.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year Treasurys added 1 basis point to 1.786 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bond rose 0.2 basis point to 1.991 percent. (Yonhap)