S.Korea stocks fall 1 pct on dismal U.S. retail sales data

Hanjin Heavy Ind & Const Holdings

15/02/2019 02:06

* KOSPI index declines, foreigners sell
    * Korean won falls versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down

    SEOUL, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korean shares fell 1 percent on Friday, after four
straight sessions of gains, as weak U.S. retail sales data
raised fresh worries about the strength of the world's top
economy. The Korean won and bond yields declined.
 
** At 0202 GMT, the KOSPI stock index  .KS11  was down 23.65
points, or 1.06 percent, at 2,202.20. However, it has gained 1.1
percent so far this week and was headed for a fifth weekly gain
in six.
    
** U.S. retail sales recorded their biggest drop in more than
nine years in December as receipts fell across the board,
suggesting a sharp slowdown in economic activity at the end of
2018.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2081MC
    
** South Korea's Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Holdings
 003480.KS  soared more than 27 percent as its shipbuilding unit
Hanjin Heavy  097230.KS  and Philippine banks agreed on a debt
restructuring plan regarding its shipyard in the Philippines.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20A18M

** Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering  042660.KS  said it
won an order to build one LNG carrier for a Greek shipowner.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1YI00B   
 
** The won was quoted at 1,126.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.14 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,125.1. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,127.11
per U.S. dollar, down 0.15 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRW1YNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,110.15 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.13 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 1.07 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is up around 9.1 percent so far this year, and up
by 9.73 percent in the previous 30 trading sessions.
 
** 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 132.96 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 887, the number of advancing shares was 247.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 66.32 billion won worth of
shares on the main board.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 1.24 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,108.67 per dollar on Jan.
31 and low is 1,133.4 on Jan. 21.
 
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.06 points to 109.35.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at
1.86 percent, while the most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond
yielded 1.777 percent, lower than 1.795 percent last quoted on
the previous session.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com))