S.Korean stocks, won slide as Fed remains bullish

KH Vatec

09/11/2018 07:03

* KOSPI index down 0.5 pct for week
    * Korean won dips nearly 1 pct vs dollar
    * South Korea bond yields edge lower
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XK1A8

    SEOUL, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    ** South Korea's stocks  .KS11  and the won slid on Friday
as the U.S. Federal Reserve remained on track to keep gradually
tightening borrowing costs. South Korean bond yields fell.
    
    ** "The labor market has continued to strengthen and ...
economic activity has been rising at a strong rate," the U.S.
central bank said after keeping its interest rates steady on
Thursday. The Fed has hiked rates three times this year and is
widely expected to do so again in December.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nTLA8MEE46
    
    ** South Korean President Moon Jae-in has fired both his top
economic policymakers and replaced them with people already in
the government, his office said on Friday, a move widely seen as
intended to reinforce his controversial policies, which
economists have said were hurting growth.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1VT02K
       
    ** The KOSPI index  .KS11  closed 6.54 points, or 0.31
percent, lower at 2,086.09. For the week, the benchmark index
fell 0.5 percent.
    
    ** After Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  unveiled its
much-anticipated foldable phone at a conference in San Francisco
on Wednesday, shares of parts suppliers closed higher for a
second session in a row. SKC Kolon PI Inc  178920.KQ , KH Vatec
Co Ltd  060720.KQ  and INNOX Advanced Materials Co Ltd
 272290.KQ  rose 4.6 percent, 8.6 percent and 4.6 percent,
respectively. Samsung Electronics climbed 0.3 percent, extending
its gains into a third session.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XK1GD
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,128.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.98 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,117.3. The currency fell 0.6 percent on a
weekly basis.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,127.77 per U.S. dollar, down 0.63 percent from the previous
day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it
was being asked at 1,108.85 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 1.38 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 1.05 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 15.2 percent so far this year,
and down by 9.93 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 292,919,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 896, the number of advancing shares was 363.
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 30,311 million won worth of
shares.
    
    ** The U.S dollar has risen 5.76 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 1,146.26 on Oct. 11, 2018.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.03 points to 108.69.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.7 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.962 percent, lower than the previous
day's 1.97 percent.

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