Seoul, March 19
The chief of South Korea's financial watchdog said on Wednesday that a system to detect illegal short selling will help regain market confidence as the country is set to lift its temporary ban on the stock trading practice at the end of this month.

In a ceremony to demonstrate the monitoring system, Lee Bok-hyun, governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, also said his agency and the stock market operator will redouble efforts to advance the country's financial market by making access by foreign investors to the market easier and by better safeguarding shareholders via various measures.

The country imposed a temporary ban on stock short selling in November 2023 after a series of naked short selling violations involving several global investment banks were discovered, reports Yonhap news agency.

The watchdog levied a combined 83.6 billion won (US$57.8 million) in fines on 13 global investment banks over illegal short selling practices.

The financial regulator said earlier it is planning to allow short selling on all publicly traded companies here.

Before the short selling ban, only 350 listed firms, namely the constituents of the KOSPI 200 index and the KOSDAQ 150 index, had been subject to short selling.

Meanwhile, South Korean stocks traded markedly higher late Wednesday morning, driven by gains of top-cap Samsung Electronics and other tech shares.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 20.65 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,632.99 as of 11:20 a.m.

The index opened higher, despite overnight losses on Wall Street, and had maintained the momentum on solid buying by foreign and institutional investors.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics surged 2.08 percent, and chip giant SK hynix soared 1.72 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution advanced 2 percent, and No. 1 steelmaker POSCO Holdings spiked 3.28 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor increased 1.25 percent, and its sister affiliate Kia inched up 0.1 percent.

But bio shares lost ground. Major bio firm Samsung Biologics shed 0.28 percent, and Celltrion went down 0.11 percent.

Illegal short selling detection to help regain market confidence: Watchdog chief