S.Korean stocks drop on Brexit anxiety, profit-taking

Ananti

23/10/2019 07:48

* KOSPI slips, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2780CM

    SEOUL, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
     
** South Korean shares slipped on Wednesday on renewed
uncertainty around Brexit, with some investors seen booking
profits after a 1% jump in the previous session. The Korean won
weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI  .KS11  ended down 8.24
points, or 0.39%, at 2,080.62, snapping two sessions of gains. 
** British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday it was
up to the EU to decide whether it wanted to delay Brexit and for
how long, after a defeat in parliament made ratification of the
deal by the Oct. 31 deadline almost impossible.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2771RC
** Some investors booked profits after the recent rise in the
KOSPI, said Park Seok-hyun, an analyst at KTB Investment &
Securities. 
** A rally in pharma shares kept the broader market's losses in
check. Shares of Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS  surged 8.3%,
driving the medical sub-index  .KS32  up 4.3%, as investors bet
the drugmaker would win a contract manufacturing deal from
Biogen.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27800U
** After North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said South Korean
facilities in the North's Mt Kumgang tourist resort must be
removed, shares of Ananti  025980.KQ , which owns a golf and spa
resort there, ended down 8.2%.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N27809U
** Foreigners were net buyers of 61.6 billion won ($52.55
million) worth of shares on the main board
** The won was quoted at 1,172.4 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.23% lower than its previous
close at 1,169.7
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,172.3 per
U.S. dollar, unchanged from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,171.3 per dollar
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.50%, after U.S. stocks sagged
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  rose 0.34%
** The KOSPI has risen 1.94% so far this year, and gained 5.00%
in the previous 30 trading sessions
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 417.2 million shares and, of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 174.
** The won has lost 4.8% against the dollar so far this year.
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.04 point to 110.40, while the
3-month certificate of deposit rate was quoted at 1.36%.
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.3
basis points to 1.396%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose
by 0.1 basis point to 1.660%.
 ($1 = 1,172.3000 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 6936 1468;))