S.Korea stocks tumble as foreigners, institutions sell; bond rallies

Hyundai Autoever

28/03/2019 01:55

* KOSPI index drops almost 1 pct, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond rallies

    SEOUL, March 28 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  stumbled nearly 1
percent on Thursday as foreigners and local institutions jointly
shed their exposure to local shares, amid growing worries over
corporate earnings. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark
bond yield fell to its lowest since November 2016. 
 
** As of 0146 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main KOSPI fell
21.10 points, or 0.98 percent, to 2,124.52 points.
    
** Chip giants, Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  and SK Hynix
 000660.KS , are leading the losses, said Lee Kyoung-min, an
analyst at Daishin Securities, noting that first-quarter
performance of Samsung is worsening further, fanning anxiety
among investors. 
    
** Shares of Samsung Elec lost 1.4 percent, while SK Hynix
shrank 1.3 percent. 
    
** Shares of Hyundai AutoEver  307950.KS , an affiliate of South
Korean automaker Hyundai Motor  005380.KS , soared on market
debut. Hyundai Motor owns 28.48 pct shares in AutoEver, while
Euisun Chung, executive vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group,
owns 19.47 pct of AutoEver shares.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21F0A7
     
** Foreigners were net sellers of 65.3 billion won ($57.37
million) worth of shares on the main board, while institutions
were net sellers of 54.9 billion won worth of stocks. 
    
** In the wake of global worries over economic slowdown, South
Korea's bonds are rallying. June futures on three-year treasury
bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.08 points to 109.71, hit the highest since
June 2017, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was
quoted at 1.90 percent.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.9
basis points to 1.707 percent below the current policy rate
 KROCRT=ECI  at 1.75 percent, while the benchmark 10-year yield
fell by 2.1 basis points to 1.824 percent, the lowest since
November 2016. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,138.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.32 percent lower than its
previous close at 1,134.5.
    
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,138.8 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.1 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,136.9 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.34 percent, after U.S. stocks closed
down  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  fell 1.83 percent.
    
** The KOSPI has risen 4.04 percent so far this year, and fell
2.0 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 111.60 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 886, the number of advancing shares was 171.
    
** The won has lost 2.0 percent against the U.S dollar this
year.

($1 = 1,138.2000 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))