S.Korea stocks set for fourth day of declines; bond yields jump

AmorePacific Holdings

04/10/2018 02:56

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners sell
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up after BOK chief's remarks

    SEOUL, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  fell on Thursday,
poised for a fourth straight session of declines, dented by
heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  and Hyundai
Motor  005380.KS . The Korean won dropped, while bond yields
rose after central bank chief highlighted financial imbalance. 
 
** At 0117 GMT, the KOSPI was down 25.71 points or 1.11 percent
at 2,283.86.
    
** South Korean chemical shares drop on soaring oil prices, with
LG Chem  051910.KS  and Lotte Chemical  011170.KS  losing over 6
percent each.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WK0BF
    
** Cosmetic shares, including Amorepacific Group  002790.KS  and
Cosmax  192820.KS , plunge on weak sentiment about Chinese
buyers.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WK0FD

** Leading KOSPI stocks wobbled; Samsung Electronics dropped as
much as 1.5 percent, while Hyundai Motor and Posco  005490.KS 
lost up to 4.3 percent and 6 percent, respectively. 

** South Korean central bank chief Lee Ju-yeol said policies
need to ease financial imbalances, highlighting household debt.
Following the remarks, the country's three-year treasury bond
 KTBc1  futures opened down 0.17 points, while yield of
three-year treasury bond  KR3YT=RR  hovers about two-month high.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1T001C
 
** The won was quoted at 1,127.9 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.77 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,119.2. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,127.96
per U.S. dollar, down 0.31 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,110.9 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.56 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  rose 0.11 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 6.4 percent so far this year, and
down by 3.07 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 101,987,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 890, the number of advancing shares was 240.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 136,685 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar rose 5.78 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 1,140.4 on July 19, 2018.
 
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  dropped 0.18 points to 108.17.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.067 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.01 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))