Prior to iPhone 5 launch, Samsung shares hit 3-week high

Shares in Samsung Electronics rose more than 3 percent to their highest intraday levels in more than three weeks on Wednesday, shrugging off rival Apple Inc's planned unveiling of its newest iPhone.

Shares in Samsung Electronics rose more than 3 percent to their highest intraday levels in more than three weeks on Wednesday, shrugging off rival Apple Inc's planned unveiling of its newest iPhone.

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Apple will try to close that gap on Wednesday with the unveiling of the new iPhone 5, but it remains to be seen if Chief Executive Tim Cook will show off any technological breakthroughs that can put the iPhone 5 head and shoulders above the competition.

"The iPhone 5 may fail to live up to expectations, and lack innovations," Kim Hyoung-sik, an analyst at Taurus Investment & Securities.