S.Korean stocks slip on widening Sino-U.S. tension

LG Uplus

23/05/2019 08:35

* KOSPI index drops, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won gains vs U.S. dollar; authorities seen selling
dollars
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N22Z09J

    SEOUL, May 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  fell on Thursday on
growing anxiety over the Sino-U.S. conflicts involving Huawei
Technologies  HWT.UL , with the spillover impact dragging on a
South Korean telecom operator. The Korean won strengthened,
while the benchmark bond yield fell.
     
** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI closed down 5.27 points,
or 0.26%, at 2,059.59.
    
** Media reports that telecom operators in the United Kingdom
and Japan suspended or reduced their business with Huawei had a
negative influence on investor sentiment, Lee Kyoung-min, an
analyst at Daishin Securities, said in a note. 
    
** South Korean telecom operator LG Uplus Corp  032640.KS ,
which uses Huawei gears, lost 6.4% on a local media report which
said the U.S. government was lobbying Seoul not to use Huawei
products amid a wider push by Washington to get its allies to
boycott the Chinese telecom giant.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N22Z0CP
    
** British chip designer ARM halted relations with Huawei to
comply with a U.S. blockade of the company, potentially
crippling the Chinese telecom company's ability to make new
chips for its future smartphones.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N22Y35E
    
** Japan's Panasonic Corp  6752.T  said it has stopped shipments
of certain components to Huawei Technologies to comply with U.S.
restrictions on the Chinese company.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N22Y4WR
     
** Foreigners were net buyers of 85.3 billion won ($71.70
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,189.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.30% higher than its previous
close at 1,192.8.
    
** South Korea's finance minister said he was closely monitoring
currency market, while forex dealers suspected authorities'
selling of U.S. dollars to curb the won's weakness.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N20Z02N
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N20Z02O
     
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,189.1 per
U.S. dollar, up 0.1% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,188.7 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.75%, after U.S. stocks weakened
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  fell 0.62%.
    
** The KOSPI has risen 0.91% so far this year, but has lost 6.6%
in the previous 30 trading sessions.
    
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28% and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
    
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 500.23 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 896, the number of advancing shares was 218.
    
** The won has lost 6.2% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
    
** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.06 points to 109.77, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.84%.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.0
basis points to 1.648%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell
by 2.4 basis points to 1.806%.

($1 = 1,189.6000 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))