S.Korean stocks at 2-mth low on Apple outlook cut; won falls nearly 1 pct

Nexon Games

03/01/2019 07:12

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners buy
    * Korean won drops against USD
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z304O

    SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korea's benchmark KOSPI stock index  .KS11  slumped
to a two-month low on Thursday after Apple Inc  AAPL.O  cut its
revenue forecast, adding worries over global economic slowdown.
Both the Korean won and bond yields fell, with the local
currency slipping nearly 1 percent.
    
    ** 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
    
    ** At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI closed down 16.30 points, or 0.81
percent at 1,993.70, hitting the lowest trading level since Oct.
30. 
    
    ** The news on Apple's forecast cut sent stocks of South
Korean chip giants tumbling. Shares of Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  and SK Hynix  000660.KS  closed down 3.0 percent and
4.8 percent, respectively, on dim outlook for memory chip
industry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z302A
    
    ** Shares of South Korean gaming company Nexon's  3659.T 
affiliates Nexon GT Co Ltd  041140.KQ  and Nat Games Co Ltd
 225570.KQ  surged nearly 30 percent after reports on the
founder of the company set to sell a controlling stake worth
around $9 billion in Nexon's holding firm NXC Corp.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z302N
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,127.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.78 percent weaker than its
previous close at 1,119.0.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,127.12 per U.S. dollar, down 0.71 percent from the previous
day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it
was being asked at 1,110.15 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.64 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  were closed on Thursday.
    
    ** 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 424,198,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 303.
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 102,353 million won worth
of shares.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.07 points to 109.36.
    
    ** 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 Joori Roh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5642; Reuters
Messaging: joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))