S.Korea stocks steady ahead of looming tariffs; won falls

LB Semicon

04/09/2018 03:11

* KOSPI index unchanged, foreigners sell
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up

    Sept 4 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  was flat on Monday
with traders cautious amid the looming escalation of a tariff
war between the U.S. and China. The won fell while bond yields
rose.
 
** At 01:39 GMT, the KOSPI was up 0.50 points or 0.02 percent at
2,307.53.
    
** Shares exposed to K-pop sensation BTS, LB Semicon
 061970.KQ , Netmarble  251270.KS  and YJM Games  193250.KQ ,
rise as military exemption for the group is in public talks
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VQ13E

** South Korea's second-quarter GDP growth logged at 0.6 percent
quarter-on-quarter and 2.8 percent year-on-year, adjusted lower
than estimated earlier, according to the central bank.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1UR00T
    
** South Korea's August consumer price index stood at 0.5
percent month-on-month and 1.4 percent year-on-year, below
target level, according to Statistics Korea.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1UR00R
 
** The won was quoted at 1,113.9 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.32 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,110.3. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,113.54
per U.S. dollar, down 0.22 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,097.35 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.28 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 0.09 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 6.5 percent so far this year, and up
by 0.78 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 105,548,000 shares and, of the total 890 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 371.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 21,202 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 4.42 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and the low is 1,140.4 on July 19.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  NOT AVAILABLE108.88.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.926 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.92 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Sunil Nair)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))