S.Korea won, stocks fall as oil price dip sparks risk-off sentiment

CJ CGV

05/04/2016 03:15

* Won falls 1 pct vs dlr after a sharp gain the prior day 
    * KOSPI expected to move in mid-1,900 range 
 
    SEOUL, April 5 (Reuters) - The South Korean won  KRW=  and 
shares fell on Tuesday as sliding oil prices made investors wary 
of riskier assets. 
    The won  KRW=KFTC  dropped as low as 1,158.5 level against 
the dollar, down 1.0 percent from Monday's close of 1,146.1. 
    It looked set to post the biggest daily percentage loss 
since early February. 
    The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)  .KS11  was 
set to fall to a one-month low and was down 0.7 percent at 
1,964.50 points as of 0144 GMT. 
    "KOSPI seems to be settling down after a sharp rise last 
week. There will be more profit-taking from foreigners in the 
near-term and the shares will be adjusted around the mid-1,900 
level," said Cho Byung-hyun, an analyst at Yuanta Securities. 
    Chi believed the index will be able to reclaim the critical 
2,000 level if shaky oil prices calm down. 
    Foreign investors were poised to be net sellers and sold 
123.9 billion won worth of KOSPI shares near mid-session, 
weighing on the index. 
    Decliners outnumbered advancers 450 to 342 on the main board 
with heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  down 2.2 
percent and LG Chem Ltd  051910.KS  down 2.1 percent. 
    CJ CGV Co Ltd  079160.KS , South Korea's largest movie 
theater chain operator, rose as much as 4.1 percent after it 
said it is buying Turkey's MARS Entertainment Group A.S. with 
its partners. It later pared gains and was up 0.5 percent. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N17726P 
    June futures on three-year treasury bonds  KTBc1  gained 
0.01 point to 110.40.  
     
                       0144 GMT    Prev close 
 Dollar/won             1,156.8       1,146.1 
 Yen/won             10.4217/72       10.3382 
 *KTB futures            110.40        110.39 
 KOSPI                 1,964.50      1,978.97 
 * Front-month futures on three-year treasury bonds 
 
 (Reporting by Dahee Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill) 
 ((Dahee.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters 
Messaging: dahee.kim@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: SOUTHKOREA MARKETS/