S.Korea tech stocks rocked by Apple forecast cut, growth fears

Nexon Games

03/01/2019 02:18

* KOSPI index steady, foreigners buy
    * Korean won drops versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down

    SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  traded flat on
Thursday after Apple Inc  AAPL.O  cut its revenue forecast,
which heightened worries about a global economic slowdown. The
Korean won and bond yields fell.
 
** At 0207 GMT, the KOSPI was steady at 2,013.74. Earlier in the
session, it hit 1,997.73, its lowest since Oct. 30, 2018.
    
** Stagnant readings of Chinese factory activity and Apple's
 AAPL.O  forecast cut has spurred a sell-off, said Kim Yong-goo,
an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS7N1O402G
    
** Apple Inc on Wednesday took the rare step of cutting its
quarterly sales forecast, with Chief Executive Tim Cook blaming
slowing iPhone sales in China, whose economy has been dragged
down by uncertainty around U.S.-China trade relations. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z236Y

** The news sent stocks of South Korean chip giants tumbling.
Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  and SK Hynix  000660.KS 
declined on dim outlook for memory chip industry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z302A  
 
    
** The founder of South Korean gaming company Nexon  3659.T  is
set to sell a controlling stake worth around $9 billion in
Nexon's holding firm NXC Corp. Nexon is listed on the Tokyo
stock market.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z302N
    
** Shares of Nexon affiliates, including Nexon GT Co Ltd
 041140.KQ  and Nat Games Co Ltd  225570.KQ , jumped as much as
30 percent on the media report.        
    
** The won was quoted at 1,125.8 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.6 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,119. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,125.8 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.6 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,106.9 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.29 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  are closed on Thursday. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 1.5 percent so far this year, and
down by 3.94 percent in the previous 30 days. South Korean
financial markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday. Markets
resumed trade on Jan. 2, 2019. 
 
** 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 135,236,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 885, the number of advancing shares was 287.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 23,725 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar rose 1.12 percent against the won so far this
year. The won's high for the year is 1,114.7 per dollar on Jan.
2, 2019, and low is 1,126.62 on Jan. 3, 2019.
 
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.06 points to 109.35.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.93 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.789 percent, lower than the previous
day's 1.80 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com))