S.Korean stocks hit over 17-mth closing low on growth worries; won down

Hyundai Elevator

10/10/2018 07:59

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners sell
    * Korean won falls versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WQ1A8

    SEOUL, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  closed down on
Wednesday, hitting its lowest close since May 2, 2017 after the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its growth forecast for
the country. The Korean won erased gains and closed lower, a day
after U.S. President Donald Trump criticised the Federal Reserve
on raising rates too fast. South Korean bond yields also fell.
    
** Trump on Tuesday again criticized the Federal Reserve,
telling reporters the central bank is going too fast in raising
rates when inflation is minimal and government data points to a
strong economy. Trump told the reporters that he doesn't "think
it's necessary to go as fast."  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1WP1K7
 
** At 06:32 GMT, the KOSPI ended down 25.21 points or 1.12
percent at 2,228.62, marking its seventh straight session of
fall, the longest since Sept. 2017. 
    
** South Korean shares exposed to North Korea plunged on growing
uncertainties after Trump said his second summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un would be held after U.S. congressional
elections on Nov. 6, which is later than expected by some
analysts. Hyundai Elevator  017800.KS , down 17.9 percent and
Hyundai Rotem  064350.KS , down 14.9 percent, led the losses.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1WQ1UH    
     
** The won was quoted at 1,133.8 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.1 percent weaker than its
previous close of 1,132.7. The currency recorded its sixth
consecutive session of loss. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,133.51
per U.S. dollar, down 0.21 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
asked at 1,116.5 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.24 percent after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.16 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 8.7 percent so far this year, and
down by 0.71 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 348,671,000 shares, and of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 107.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 229,492 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 6.3 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, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.09 points to 108.21.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.061 percent, lower than the previous
day's 2.09 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))