S.Korea stocks drop in line with Asian shares; won falls

Amorepacific

01/10/2018 04:18

* KOSPI index drops, foreigners buy
    * Korean won falls vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up

    SEOUL, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  on Monday weakened in
line with Asian shares, which got off to a tepid start due to
holidays in China including Hong Kong. The Korean won fell,
while bond yields rose.
    
** At 0256 GMT, the KOSPI was down 2.73 points or 0.12 percent
at 2,340.34.

** Casting a shadow in Asia, two surveys showed on Sunday that
growth in China's manufacturing sector sputtered in September as
domestic and export demand softened.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WG01M    
 
** The United States and Canada have reached a framework deal to
update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a
Canadian source said late on Sunday. It involves offering more
dairy access to U.S. farmers, as well as Canada agreeing to a
side-letter arrangement effectively capping automobile exports
to the United States, the source said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1WG080 
    
** Investors seemed to be wary ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve
Chairman Jerome Powell's talks later this week, which is
expected to focus on the U.S. policy stance next year such as
wage hike, while the market is also cautious over Italy budget
woes, says Kim Yoon-seo, analyst, Shinhan Financial Investment. 
    
** South Korean companies with China exposure gain on expected
rise in Chinese tourist arrivals as golden week holiday begins
on Monday. 
    South Korean companies that operate duty-free businesses
jump, with Hanwha Galleria Timeworld Co Ltd  027390.KS  and
Hotel Shilla Co Ltd  008770.KS  rose as much as 5.4 percent and
5.1 pct respectively, while the country's cosmetic brands, which
are popular with Chinese customers, include LG Household &
Healthcare Ltd  051900.KS  and Amorepacific Corp,  090430.KS 
also rose.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WH0PO
 
** The won was quoted at 1,111.4 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.19 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,109.3, snapping its sixth consecutive
sessions of gain.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,111.22
per U.S. dollar, down 0.11 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
asked at 1,094.4 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.15 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  rose 0.59 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 5.0 percent so far this year, and up
by 4.21 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 163,864,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 356.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 8,814 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 4.21 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  fell 0.05 points to 108.33.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.015 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.01 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))