S.Korean stocks steady as institutions book profits; won down
22/03/2019 07:01
* KOSPI index flat, foreigners net buyers
* Korean won drops versus U.S. dollar
* South Korea benchmark bond yield rises
* For the midday report, please click urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2190IN
SEOUL, March 22 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index .KS11 ended flat on Friday
due to offtake by institutions for profit taking, following
sharp rise of major stocks a day earlier. The Korean won
weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI ended up 2.07 points, or
0.09 percent, to 2,186.95 points. For the week, the main index
gained 0.50 percent.
** The market is mixed, while institutions took profit from
yesterday's rise in Samsung Electronics 005930.KS shares, said
Lee Won, an analyst at Bookook Securities.
** The largest KOSPI stock ended up 4.1 percent a day earlier,
its biggest rise since November last year.
** Foreigners were net buyers of 245.6 billion won ($217.47
million) worth of shares on the main board, while local
institutions were net seller of 305.7 billion won worth of
shares.
** The Korea Exchange has suspended trading in shares of Asiana
Airlines Inc 020560.KS , after an auditor for South Korea's
second-biggest carrier said it lacked enough information to
judge its value. The announcement sent its affiliates stocks
plunging, with Asiana IDT 267850.KS closing down 14.2 percent.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2190MZ
** The won was quoted at 1,130.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform KRW=KFTC , 0.21 percent lower than its
previous close at 1,127.7. The currency added 0.6 percent on
weekly basis.
** In offshore trading, the won KRW= was quoted at 1,129.9 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.2 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
KRW1MNDFOR= was quoted at 1,127.8 per dollar.
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was up 0.05 percent, after U.S. stocks rose
MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks .N225 rose 0.09 percent.
** The KOSPI has risen 7.15 percent so far this year, and fell
0.8 percent in the previous 30 trading sessions.
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
.KS11 was 291.43 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 893, the number of advancing shares was 301.
** The won has lost 1.3 percent against the U.S dollar this
year.
** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year
treasury bonds KTBc1 fell 0.02 points to 109.32, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.90 percent.
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.7
basis points to 1.800 percent, while the benchmark 10-year yield
rose by 0.3 basis points to 1.935 percent.
($1 = 1,129.3500 won)
(Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))