S.Korean stocks edge higher, but U.S. election caution limits gains

LG Innotek Co

06/11/2018 07:01

* KOSPI index edges up, foreigners sell
    * Korean won holds steady against U.S. dollar
    * South Korean bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XH19X

    SEOUL, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  ended higher on
Tuesday as overnight gains on Wall Street boosted market
sentiment across Asia, but the index's gains were capped by
caution ahead of the U.S. midterm congressional elections. The
Korean won was little changed, while bond yields fell.
    
    ** Investors across the world are closely watching the U.S.
elections, as policy decisions that could sway the economy,
corporate decision-making and consumer spending hinge on the
results.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1WE1Q2
    
    ** South Korea's top government think tank on Tuesday called
on the central bank to maintain accommodative monetary policy
through to next year, saying inflation would remain low given
slowing domestic demand and a sluggish job market.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XG17Z
    
    ** The Bank of Korea's governor has signalled on several
occasions recently it could raise the benchmark interest rate as
early as its Nov. 30 meeting to cool the property market and
slow consumer borrowing.

   ** At 06:30 GMT, the KOSPI index closed higher by 12.70
points or 0.61 percent at 2,089.62.
    
    ** South Korea's iPhone part suppliers wobbled on report
that Apple Inc  AAPL.O  cancelled production boost for the new
iPhone XR; Samsung Electro-Mechanics  009150.KS  and LG Innotek
 011070.KS  both closed down more than 6 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XH18M
    
    ** Shares of South Korean shipbuilding companies jumped,
boosted by the country's tally of orders in January to October
as well as a positive outlook for the sector. 
    
    ** South Korea's volume of orders in Jan-Oct ranked the
highest, with it securing about 45 percent of total orders. The
three biggest shipbuilding companies Hyundai Heavy Industries
 009540.KS , Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering
 042660.KS  and Samsung Heavy Industries  010140.KS  closed up
5.4 percent, 7.6 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1XH1SA  
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,123.8 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.03 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,123.5.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,123.46 per U.S. dollar, down 0.35 percent from the previous
day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it
was being asked at 1,104.5 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.22 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  rose 1.14 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 15.8 percent so far this year,
and down by 9.82 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 307,933,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 898, the number of advancing shares was 505.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 7,332 million won worth of
shares.
    
    ** The U.S. dollar has risen 5.35 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 October 11 2018.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.03 points to 108.65.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.7 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.971 percent, lower than the previous
day's 1.99 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))