S.Korean stocks, won wobble on recession, trade war concerns

E-Mart

13/08/2019 08:00

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25908J

    SEOUL, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
South Korean shares ended lower on Tuesday as a drop in U.S.
yield curve fuelled demand for safe-haven bets, adding pressure
on the market, already hit by Sino-U.S. trade war and Japan's
export curbs. The Korean won and the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
** U.S. 30-year bond yields slid to their lowest since July
2016. U.S. long-term yields have fallen in six of the past nine
sessions, reflecting investors' diminished risk appetite. The
yield spread between U.S. 2-year and 10-year notes, a closely
watched metric, narrowed to 5.3 basis points, the smallest
difference since at least 2010, according to Refinitiv data.
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** Japan had said in July it would tighten restrictions on
exports of high-tech materials to South Korea, a move seen as
related to disputes over compensation for forced labour during
World War Two.    
    
** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI  .KS11  ended down 16.46
points or 0.85% at 1,925.83 points.
    
** Foreigners were net sellers of 174.6 billion won ($142.88
million) worth of shares on the main board. They were net
sellers for a tenth consecutive session, marking the longest
selling spree since January 2016. 
    
** As the dollar strengthened amid a risk-off mood, foreigners
have been hard to buy emerging-market stocks, said Kim Ji-hyung,
an analyst at Hanyang Securities. Further, South Korean firms'
profit estimation has been sharply revised down, he added. 
    
** South Korea's construction stocks slumped after the
government introduced a regulation to cool the housing market.
The construction sub-index  .KS44  was the biggest percentage
loser among KOSPI sub-indexes, with a 2.9% drop.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2590LS
    
** Shares of E-Mart  139480.KS  closed 6.6% firmer after the
retailer announced its plan to sell assets and buy back shares.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25904S
        
** The won was quoted at 1,222.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.49% lower than its previous
close at 1,216.2. 
     
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,222.0 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.3% from the previous session, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,222.6 per dollar.
     
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 1.25%, after U.S. stocks stumbled
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  dropped 1.11%.
     
** The KOSPI dropped 5.64% so far this year, but lost 8.8% in
the previous 30 trading sessions.
     
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28% and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
     
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 646.40 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 896, the number of advancing shares was 329.
     
** The won has lost 8.7% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
     
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.13 points to 111.34, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.49%.
     
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.5
basis points to 1.158%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell
by 4.5 basis points to 1.241%.
    
($1 = 1,222.0100 won)
    

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643;))