Seoul: Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co, South Korea’s biggest builder, rose to a two-month high in Seoul trading after the South Korean government announced temporary tax cuts to boost the housing market.
The company, controlled by Hyundai Motor Group, climbed 1.7 per cent to close at 67,000 won (Dh218), the highest level since July 5. GS Engineering & Construction Corp rose 2.6 per cent and the 35-stock Korea Construction Index jumped 1.4 per cent to the highest since August 17.
South Korea will halve a tax on home purchases to less than 2 per cent until the end of the year, as part of wider efforts to revive economic growth, according to a finance ministry statement on Sunday. Nationwide home transactions fell 30 per cent in the first seven months from a year earlier, it said.
“The support measures are boosting sentiment today,” Cho Dong Pil, a Seoul-based analyst at Hanwha Securities Co, said by phone. “Together with measures announced earlier, this will have a positive impact on the housing market as soon as the economy gets back on a recovery track.”
The government said in May it will ease lending regulations for people purchasing homes in three parts of southern Seoul to support the market.
Hyundai Development Co also rose 2.5 per cent to 22,550 won. Kumho Industrial Co. jumped 5.5 per cent.
