An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks extended their winning streak to a sixth day by jumping more than 1.5 percent to close at a fresh record high Wednesday, led by gains in chipmakers and automakers despite renewed concerns over global trade tensions. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index increased 59.84 points, or 1.56 percent, to close at 3,883.68.

Trade volume was moderate at 588.5 million shares worth 15.1 trillion won ($10.6 billion), with winners beating losers 635 to 247.

Institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing 762.3 billion won worth of shares. In contrast, individual and foreign investors offloaded 54.2 billion won and 724.9 billion won, respectively.

The index had been on a bull run since last Wednesday, buoyed by optimism over easing trade tensions between the United States and China.

The index opened lower due to renewed uncertainty surrounding the upcoming US-China summit, following remarks by US President Donald Trump. The market then turned bullish in the afternoon, on the back of solid performance in chipmakers, automakers, battery and bio shares.

"The domestic market opened weak due to profit-taking in global markets the previous day, but a buying force rotated into undervalued sectors driving the index higher," Lee Kyung-min, an analyst at Daeshin Securities, said.

Most market heavyweights ended higher.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution jumped 4 percent to 454,000 won, while LG Chem surged 13.01 percent to 391,000 won, jumping by the most in five years, following global hedge fund Palliser Capital's report on the firm.

Chip giant Samsung Electronics went up 1.13 percent to 98,600 won, and rival SK hynix also increased 0.52 percent to 481,500 won.

Auto shares also ended higher. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.75 percent to 261,000 won, and its smaller affiliate Kia climbed 1.99 percent to 118,100 won.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace increased 3.39 percent to close at 1,007,000 won, and leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai rose 3.2 percent to 581,000 won.

The Korean won had been quoted at 1,430.25 won against the US dollar as of 3:30 p.m., down 2.45 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)