S.Korea stocks weaken on U.S.-N.Korea summit collapse; won flat

Kangdong C&L Co

04/03/2019 07:31

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners sell
    * Korean won nearly unchanged
    * South Korea bond yield rises
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20R1EC

    SEOUL, March 4 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
    
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  fell on Monday
after the summit between North Korea and the United States
collapsed last week, while investors moved to the Chinese market
amid hopes that the world's two biggest economies were close to
striking a trade deal later this month. The Korean closed flat,
while the benchmark bond yield rose.
    
    ** The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday U.S. President
Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could reach a
formal trade deal at a summit around March 27, given progress in
talks between the two countries.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N20Q0BF
    
    ** China's blue-chip index  .CSI300  was up nearly 1
percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index  .HSI  added 0.6
percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI index ended 4.78 points, or 0.22 percent, lower
at 2,190.66 points, extending its loss to a second session.
South Korean financial markets resumed trading on Monday after a
public holiday on Friday.
    
    ** South Korean stocks weakened as the disappointment from
the collapse of the second summit between the United States and
North Korea froze investor sentiment, while the risk appetite in
Asian emerging markets was focused on Chinese markets on signs
of a possible trade deal between the U.S. and China, said Lee
Won, an analyst at Bookook Securities.
    
    ** MSCI to quadruple the weighting of Chinese mainland
shares in its global benchmarks, also boosting Chinese stock
market, which may have led to foreign investment switching out
of the Korean market, Lee added.
    
    ** Global index provider MSCI will quadruple the weighting
of Chinese mainland shares in its global benchmarks later this
year, it said on Thursday, potentially drawing more than $80
billion of fresh foreign inflows to the world's second-biggest
economy.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N20N2BQ
    
    ** Shares of South Korean firms with exposure to North Korea
fell after the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump
and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed on Thursday over
sanctions, raising concerns about the future of their
denuclearisation negotiations.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20R02V
    
    ** Railway-related stocks such as Busan Industrial Co Ltd
 011390.KS  and Korea Cement  198440.KQ  both fell more than 5
percent, while companies with a branch in Kaesong Industrial
Complex in North Korea such as In The F Co Ltd  014990.KS 
dipped 3.9 percent. Other stocks such as Hyundai Rotem Co
 064350.KS  and Hyundai Elevator Co Ltd  017800.KS  ended 7.1
percent and 5.4 percent lower, respectively.
    
    ** The country's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co
 005380.KS  and its affiliates Kia Motors Corp  000270.KS  and
Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd  012330.KS  tumbled as much as 4.4 percent,
3.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively, after more vehicle
recalls.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20R0C3
    
    ** Kia Motors and affiliate Hyundai Motor said on Thursday
they were recalling around 534,000 more U.S. vehicles at risk of
engine fires.
    ** The won was quoted at 1,124.9 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.02 percent lower than its
previous close at 1,124.7.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,125.2
per U.S. dollar, up 0.1 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,123.7 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.26 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  rose 1.02 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI has risen 7.33 percent so far this year, and
gained 6.3 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.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 123.3 billion won worth of
shares on the main board.
    
    ** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 367.75 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 896, the number of advancing shares was 578.
    
    ** The won has lost 0.8 percent against the U.S dollar this
year.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.07 points to 109.15, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.89 percent.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose
2.1 basis points to 1.834 percent, while the benchmark 10-year
yield gained 4 basis points to 2.027 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5642; Reuters
Messaging: joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))