S.Korean stocks start week higher; earnings, Fed meeting eyed

Cubic Korea

26/04/2021 02:42

* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won strengthens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

    SEOUL, April 26 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
** South Korean shares opened higher on Monday, ahead of a big
earnings week and a meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve where
investors will look for clues on the strength of the recovery in
the world's largest economy. 
    
** The won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
** The benchmark KOSPI  .KS11  rose 12.05 points, or 0.38%, to
3,198.15 by 0108 GMT.
    
** South Korean steelmaker POSCO  005490.KS  announced its
first-quarter earnings on Monday. This will followed by Samsung
SDI  006400.KS , LG Display  034220.KS , LG Chem  051910.KS 
through the week.
    
** Investors want to check how strong the recovery is not just
in South Korea but also in the global economy. Hence, earnings
are in focus globally, says Seo Jung-hun, an analyst at Samsung
Securities.    
    
** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  rose 0.24% and peer SK Hynix  000660.KS  fell 1.13%.
LG Chem  051910.KS  and Naver  035420.KS  slid 0.46% and 0.40%
each.
    
** Foreigners were net buyers of 36.8 billion won ($33.03
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,115.6 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , up 0.20%.
    
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,114.3 per
dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month
contract  KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,114.6.
    
** The trading volume on KOSPI was 500.54 million shares. Of the
total traded issues of 908, the number of advancing shares was
493.
    
** The won has lost 2.6% against the dollar so far this year.
    
** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.01 point to 110.91.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.7
basis point to 1.127%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by
0.8 basis point to 2.035%.


($1 = 1,114.0900 won)

 (Reporting by Cynthia Kim; Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee)
 ((Cynthia.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; 822 3704 5655; Reuters
Messaging: cynthia.kim.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))