S.Korea stocks wobble on re-emerging trade, growth concerns

Netmarble

08/02/2019 01:36

* KOSPI index falls over 1 pct, foreigners sell
    * Korean won weakens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down

    SEOUL, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  is set to lose more
than 1 percent on Friday as trade worries resurface, while
latest growth outlook stokes fears over global economic
slowdown. The Korean won and bond yields fell.
 
** At 0125 GMT, the KOSPI was down 22.28 points or 1.01 percent
at 2,181.14.
    
** U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he did not plan
to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a March 1
deadline set by the two countries to achieve a trade
deal. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2020Z6
    
** The European Commission sharply cut on Thursday its forecasts
for euro zone economic growth this year and next because it
expects the bloc's largest countries to be held back by global
trade tensions and an array of domestic challenges.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2023IE

** The Bank of England also saw weakest economic growth in a
decade this year as uncertainty over Brexit mounts and the
global economy slows. The central bank on Thursday slashed its
2019 economic growth forecast to 1.2 percent from a previous
estimate of 1.7 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2024YY

** South Korean gaming firm Netmarble Corp's  251270.KS  shares
rise nearly 15 percent on a report that it will team up with
Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings  0700.HK  to bid for the
company that controls South Korea's Nexon  3659.T .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N20303S
 
** The won was quoted at 1,125.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , down 0.11 percent from its
previous close at 1,124.1. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,124.22
per U.S. dollar, down 0.04 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRW1YNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,107.4 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.31 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 1.09 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is up around 8 percent so far this year, and up by
5.99 percent in the previous 30 trading sessions.
 
** 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 108.32 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 891, the number of advancing shares was 303.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 68.09 billion won worth of
shares on the main board.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 0.98 percent against the won this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,108.67 per dollar on Jan.
31 and the low is 1,133.4 on Jan. 21.
 
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.04 points to 109.32.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at
1.86 percent, while the most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond
yielded 1.790 percent, lower than 1.802 percent last quoted on
the previous session.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com))