S.Korean stocks, won fall over EU immigration policy, U.S.-China tariff spat

Jin Air Co

02/07/2018 07:30

* KOSPI index hits lowest close since May 2017, foreigners
buy
    * Korean won falls against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TY1K1

    SEOUL, July 2 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  slumped about 2.5
percent on Monday to its lowest close in nearly 14 months, as
political risks heightened on immigration deals in the European
Union (EU) and a private survey showed a slowdown in China's
manufacturing sector growth. Tension between the world's top two
economies is likely to rise ahead of a July 6 deadline when the
United States is due to impose $34 billion of tariffs on Chinese
exports. Bond yields edged down.
    
** German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer offered to step down
from his position to party colleagues late on Sunday, adding
uncertainty towards Angela Merkel's government, while he pushed
forward to restrict the number of migrants entering the bloc.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1TX09B
    
** China's manufacturing sector growth ebbed in June as firms
faced rising input costs whereas export orders declined amid
intensifying trade tensions with the United States, the
Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)
showed on Monday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TY1QE
** At 06:31 GMT, the KOSPI was down 54.60 points, or 2.35
percent, at 2,271.53. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  fell more than 2.4 percent, while LG Electronics
 066570.KS  closed 4 percent lower after hitting its lowest
since October 2017.  
    
** Shares of cyclical material makers including steel slid on
Chinese economic stagnation. Steel makers Posco  005490.KS  and
Hyundai Steel  004020.KS  dropped more than 4 percent each,
while Daewoo Engineering & Construction  047040.KS  fell 6.1
percent to its lowest close since April.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TY1GZ
    
** Airline shares also plummeted on concerns over rising oil
prices. Shares of Korean Air Lines  003490.KS  and its budget
affiliate, Jin Air  272450.KS , fell 4.1 percent and 6.3
percent, respectively.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1TY29C
 
** The won was quoted at 1,120 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.49 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,114.5.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,119.02
per U.S. dollar, down 0.46 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
asked at 1,102.05 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.71 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  weakened 2.21 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 5.7 percent so far this year, and
down by 5.39 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 387,650,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 888, the number of advancing shares was 85.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 115,476 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 4.94 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 1,125.17 on June 27, 2018.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.03 points to 108.09.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.131 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.12 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))