S.Korea stocks fall on China's slowdown woes ahead of Trump-Xi meet at G20 summit
30/11/2018 02:48
* KOSPI index falls, foreigners buy
* Korean won inches down against U.S. dollar
* South Korea bond yields up
SEOUL, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index .KS11 weakened on
Friday due to concerns over a slowdown in China, as investors
awaited the outcome of the U.S.-China leaders' meet at the G20
summit on Sunday.
The Korean won fell, while bond yields rose after the
country's central bank lifted rates, amid analyst expectations
that the rate would be on hold throughout next year.
** Growth in China's vast manufacturing sector stalled for
the first time in over two years in November as new orders
shrank, adding pressure on Beijing ahead of high-stakes trade
talks between presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump this
weekend. The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), released
on Friday, fell to 50 in November, missing market expectations
and down from 50.2 in October. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y32K0
** South Korea's central bank raised its policy interest
rate on Friday for the first time in a year in a widely expected
move aimed mainly at containing a boom in parts of the country's
property market. Analysts said heightened global markets turmoil
over the past few months has made it difficult for the Bank of
Korea to find the perfect timing to adjust policy. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y12FK
** At 02:27 GMT, the KOSPI was down 5.31 points, or 0.25
percent, at 2,108.79, set to snap its fourth session of gains.
** KOSPI opened up as investors took a wait-and-see stance
ahead of the result on Trump and Xi's meeting to be announced on
Sunday, however it reversed after the China's PMI release, which
was below expectations, as concerns over slowdown in China
rippled, said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Seo added that the loss was limited as the market has hopes for
truce between the U.S. and China.
** Hyundai Motor Co 005380.KS jumped as much as 6.5
percent, posting its highest trading level since Nov 9, after
the company said it would buy back 255 billion won ($228.3
million) worth of common and preferred stocks to stabilise its
stock prices and boost investor returns. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y501I
** Samsung Electronics Co Ltd 005930.KS said on Friday it
would cancel 4.9 trillion won ($4.4 billion) worth of its
shares. While, it is expected to be completed on Dec. 4, the
cancellation was the second stage of its previously announced
plan to cancel all of its treasury shares in two stages to
enhance shareholder value. The first stage was cancelled in May
last year, it said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y509F
** Samsung Electronics' supplier Toptec Co Ltd 108230.KQ
plunged as much as 13.7 percent on indictment over information
leak. South Korean prosecutors on Thursday charged the chief
executive and eight employees of the company for selling
information earlier this year about Samsung's organic
light-emitting diode (OLED) panels. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y43DL
** South Korea's construction machinery manufacturer Doosan
Bobcat Inc 241560.KS hit its four-month low as parent company
Doosan Infracore Co Ltd 042670.KS says it sold shares worth
149.1 billion won ($133.08 mln) in Doosan Bobcat to improve
financial soundness. Doosan Bobcat dipped as much as 8.6
percent, while Doosan Infracore rose up to 2.8 percent.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1Y501C
** The won was quoted at 1,121.6 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform KRW=KFTC , 0.21 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,119.2.
** In offshore trading, the won KRW= was quoted at
1,121.79 per U.S. dollar, down 0.47 percent from the previous
day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards KRWNDFOR= it
was being asked at 1,100.95 per dollar.
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was down 0.14 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with mild losses MKTS/GLOB .
Japanese stocks .N225 rose 0.15 percent.
** The KOSPI is down around 14.3 percent so far this year,
and up by 1.59 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 135,875,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 892, the number of advancing shares was 343.
** Foreigners were net buyers of 3,688 million won worth of
shares.
** The U.S dollar has risen 5.2 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 2018 and low is 1,146.26 on October 11 2018.
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds KTBc1 fell 0.07 points to 108.9.
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.7 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.903 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.89 percent.
(Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5642; Reuters
Messaging: joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))