S.Korean stocks rise as steelmakers jump

Dongkuk Holdings Co

06/08/2018 03:26

* KOSPI index rises, foreigners buy
    * Korean won gains against U.S. dollar
    * South Korean bond yields steady

    Aug 6 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  climbed on Monday as
broader Asian shares edged higher, supported by Wall Street's
gains on Friday. The Chinese central bank's motion to drag the
yuan away from 14-month lows also lent support to Asian markets,
amid lingering worries over China-U.S. trade. The Korean won
gained while bond yields were unchanged.
 
** At 01:29 GMT, the KOSPI was up 8.47 points or 0.37 percent at
2,296.15.
    
** Shares of chip giant SK Hynix  000660.KS  fell more than 3
percent, amid analyst forecasts of a drop in memory chip prices.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1U5006
    
** South Korean steel stocks gained on expectations of higher
steel prices amid China's plans to impose industrial production
curbs during winter for the second year in a row.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UU1PG
    
** Shares of POSCO  005490.KS  climbed more than 3 percent,
while Hyundai Steel  004020.KS  rose 2.25 percent and Dongkuk
Steel  001230.KS  jumped 4.88 percent. 
 
** The won was quoted at 1,124.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.26 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,127.6. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,124.8 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.22 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,107.7 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up marginally, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225 
also edged 0.2 percent higher. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 7.3 percent so far this year, and up
by 2.95 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 89,079,000 shares and, of the total traded issues of
887, the number of advancing shares was 518.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 15,656 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S. dollar has risen 5.48 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, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.02 points to 108.11.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.112 percent, barely changed from the
previous day's 2.11 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))