S.Korean stocks tumble on Fed hike, 2019 rates outlook

LG Innotek Co

20/12/2018 06:56

* KOSPI index tumbles, foreigners sell
    * Korean won slides against USD
    * South Korea bond yields up
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YP19E

    SEOUL, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  weakened on
Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve stuck to its outlook for
continued policy tightening next year, suppressing hopes that
the Fed will adopt a dovish stance in the face of softening
global growth. The won fell while bond yields rose.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nTLAJNEE4N
    
    ** At 06:32 GMT, the KOSPI was down 18.72 points or 0.90
percent at 2,060.12. The benchmark index fell nearly 21 percent
since its peak in January.
    
    ** South Korea's electric and electronic sub-index  .KS41 
dropped on worries of weak smartphone demand. SK Hynix
 000660.KS  fell more than 3 pct to a one-and-a-half-year low,
while LG Innotek  011070.KS  slid more than 4 percent to the
lowest in nearly two years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YP07P
    
    ** U.S. chipmaker Micron Technology Inc  MU.O  has joined
its South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS 
and SK Hynix in warning about a market glut of memory chips as
consumer and business demand for phones and computers is
weakening.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YN50N
    
    ** Shares of Kakao Corp  035720.KS  ended down 4.6 percent
as tens of thousands of South Korean taxi drivers walked off the
job and held a rally on Thursday to protest against a
car-pooling service Kakao Mobility, a unit of mobile messenger
operator Kakao Corp, that they say would destroy their jobs and
threaten their livelihoods.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YO2TR
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,127.8 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.38 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,123.5.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,127.85 per U.S. dollar, up 0.08 percent from the previous day,
while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was
being asked at 1,108.75 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 1.25 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB .
Japanese stocks  .N225  weakened 2.84 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 15.8 percent so far this year,
and down by 0.01 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 412,812,000 shares and, of the total 895 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 310.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 42,020 million won worth
of shares.
    
    ** The U.S dollar has risen 5.77 percent against the won
this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on
April 2 and low is 1,146.26 on Oct. 11.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.05 point to 109.34.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.9 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.798 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.79 percent.

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