S.Korean stocks extend losses on global uncertainties; won gains

TK Chemical

24/10/2018 08:12

* KOSPI index drops, foreigners sell
    * Korean won rises vs dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X41A4

    SEOUL, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  ended down on
Wednesday as external uncertainties, ranging from U.S.-China to
Middle East tensions. The won ended higher and bond yields edged
up.
    
** President Donald Trump warned on Monday that the U.S.
intended to build up its arsenal of nuclear weapons to pressure
Russia and China. While Trump blamed Russian violations of a
missile treaty, he has also pointed a finger at China, leading
to an escalation in U.S.-China tensions.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nW1N1WI02S
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1X21RJ
 
** At 06:32 GMT, the KOSPI was down 8.52 points or 0.40 percent
at 2,097.58.
** South Korea's top two biopharma firms, Celltrion  068270.KS 
and Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS , plunged in the wake of
Monday's block deal and possible disciplinary action,
respectively. Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics closed down 8.5
percent and 3.6 percent respectively.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X42GC 
    
** Shares of South Korean chemical producers climbed after the
United States International Trade Commission says polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) resin from Korea does not injure U.S.
Industry; TK Chemical Corp  104480.KQ  surged as much as 17.6
percent, while Lotte Chemical Corp  011170.KS  rose up to 7.2
percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X4171
    
** The country's chip giants fell on worries over near-term
outlook. SK Hynix  000660.KS  closed down 3.5 percent at its
lowest since September 2017, while Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  fell over 1 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X408P
     
** The won was quoted at 1,132.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.47 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,137.6. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,131.77
per U.S. dollar, up 0.27 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being asked
at 1,112.85 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.13 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.37 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 14.6 percent so far this year, and
down by 9.05 percent in the previous 30 days.
 
** 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 392,945,000 shares and, of the total 899 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 281.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 331,658 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 6.14 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and the low is 1,146.26 on Oct. 11.
 
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.04 points to 108.5.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.7 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.008 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.99 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sunil Nair)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))