S.Korean stocks, won fall as Sino-U.S. trade concerns linger

Husteel

19/07/2018 08:14

* KOSPI index drops, foreigners buy
    * Korean won falls versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UF1J6

    SEOUL, July 19 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  and the won weakened
on Thursday over lingering concerns raised by trade tensions
between the U.S. and China. South Korean bond yields rose.
 
** At 06:33 GMT, the KOSPI was down 7.82 points or 0.34 percent
at 2,282.29.
    
** South Korean steel firms declined after the European Union
said it would limit steel imports into the bloc. While the
sub-index for iron, steel & metals  .KS34  closed down 1.4
percent, shares of POSCO  005490.KS  and Husteel Co Ltd
 005010.KS  tumbled 1.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1UE1VF
 
** The won was quoted at 1,133.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.08 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,132.3.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,132.69
per U.S. dollar, down 0.22 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
asked at 1,116.45 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 gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  weakened 0.13 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 7.2 percent so far this year, and
down by 6.44 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 458,752,000 shares and, of the total 892 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 182.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 53,721 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 6.22 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and low is 1,133.98 on July 13.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.03 points to 108.15.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.097 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.09 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Sunil Nair)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))