S.Korea stocks retreat after govt confirms new virus cases

Monalisa

19/02/2020 02:18

* KOSPI erases early gains, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

    SEOUL, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
South Korean shares shed early gains to trade slightly lower on
Wednesday after the government reported 15 fresh coronavirus
cases, bringing the number of people infected in the country to
46. The Korean won and the benchmark bond yield weakened. 
    
** As of 0208 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main KOSPI  .KS11 
was down 0.98 points, or 0.04%, at 2,208.31, after opening up
0.62%. 
    
** South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called for stringent
infection control measures and every possible action to boost
the economy which he said was in an emergency situation as the
result of the global coronavirus epidemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AJ0E0
    
** Following reports of the new cases, stocks of South Korean
mask manufacturers surged, with Monalisa  012690.KS  and
Kleannara  004540.KS  jumping 22% and 17%, respectively.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AJ08D
    
** Foreigners were net sellers of 31.3 billion won ($26.24
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,192.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.27% lower than its previous
close at 1,189.5.
    
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,192.8 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.2% from the previous session, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,191.2 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  dipped 0.07%, after U.S. stocks slipped
overnight. Japanese stocks  .N225  rose 0.36%.  MKTS/GLOB 
    
** The KOSPI advanced 0.09% so far this year, and gained 1.5% in
the previous 30 trading sessions.
     
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 298.86 million shares. Of the total traded issues of
902, the number of advancing shares was 171.
    
** The won lost 3.0% against the dollar so far this year.
    
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  climbed 0.09 points to 110.92, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.42%.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.9
basis points to 1.253%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
dropped by 3.1 basis points to 1.530%.

    ($1 = 1,192.7000 won)    

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 6936 1468;))