Seoul shares ended sharply higher Wednesday on tech gains amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve may begin a rate cutting cycle within months. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shot up 32.50 points, or 1.19 percent, to close at 2,770.69.

Trade volume was moderate at 543.14 million shares worth 11.84 trillion won ($8.6 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 586 to 302.

Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 202 billion won worth of stocks, offsetting individuals' stock selling valued at 180 billion won.

Overnight, US stocks closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5 percent to 40,743.33 points, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.3 percent to 17,147.42.

"Samsung Electronics' robust earnings results and gains in global tech stocks gave a boost to the local stock market," Lee Kyung-min, an analyst with Daishin Securities Co., said.

Earlier in the day, the Korean chip giant reported an operating profit of 10.44 trillion won in the April-June quarter, sharply up from 668.5 billion won a year earlier, helped by higher chip demand.

The focus now turns to the Fed's policy decision on Wednesday and earnings results of big tech firms, such as Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., this week, analysts said.

With signs of cooling inflation, the US central bank is widely expected to cut rates as early as in September.

In Seoul, tech stocks led gains.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. jumped 3.6 percent to 83,900 won, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. climbed 3 percent to 194,600 won, state-run Korea Gas Corp. gained 5 percent to 44,500 won, and cosmetics firm Amorepacific Corp. was up 1.6 percent to 181,700 won.

Among decliners, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. fell 0.4 percent to 249,000 won, steelmaker Posco Holdings declined 2.2 percent to 351,500 won, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. was down 2.7 percent to 324,000 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,376.5 won against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 8.8 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)