S.Korea stocks rise after White House confirms Trump-Xi meeting schedule

Woongjin Co

27/06/2019 03:29

* KOSPI index climbs, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won little changed vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, June 27 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:

** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  gained on Thursday
after the White House confirmed the schedule of much-anticipated
meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese
President Xi Jinping. The Korean won was steady against the
dollar, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
    
** President Trump is set to meet with Chinese President Xi in
Osaka at 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Saturday, a White House
spokesman told reporters on Wednesday. The bilateral meeting in
Japan aims at heading off a ratcheting up of U.S. tariffs on
imports of consumer and other goods from China.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N23Y01A
    
** The KOSPI rose on optimism over the talks, though it would be
difficult to nail down a final deal, said Kim Ji-hyung, an
analyst from Hanyang Securities. The best scenario of the
outcome would be maintaining the status-quo, Kim added. 
    
** As of 0222 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main KOSPI rose
12.68 points or 0.60% to 2,134.53. 
    
** South Korea's Woongjin Group said it would sell a 25.08%
stake in water purifier rental firm Woongjin Coway  021240.KS ,
just three months after the group regained control of the unit
for 1.89 billion won ($1.6 million). Woongjin  016880.KS  shares
fell 15.6%, while Woongjin Thinkbig  095720.KS  gains 4.9%.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23Y01I  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23X5D5
    
** South Korea's largest association of trading firms on
Thursday sharply downgraded its forecast for this year's exports
to a steep fall from a modest gain, blaming the U.S.-China trade
standoff for the grim outlook.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23Y0D8
     
** Foreigners were net buyers of 115.6 billion won ($100.01
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,156.5 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.01% higher than its previous
close at 1,156.6.
     
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,156.0 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.2% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,154.8 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.52%, after U.S. stocks were mixed
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  rose 0.70%.
    
** The KOSPI has risen 4.49% so far this year, and gained 1.9%
in the previous 30 trading sessions.
    
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28% and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
    
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 280.31 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 892, the number of advancing shares was 436.
    
** The won has lost 3.5% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
    
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.05 points to 110.33, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.78%.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.6
basis points to 1.492%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose
by 0.1 basis points to 1.609%.

($1 = 1,155.8700 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))