S.Korea stocks rise on hopes for U.S.-China talks; won down

PARADISE

23/08/2018 02:53

* KOSPI index rises, foreigners buy
    * Korean won inches down vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down

    SEOUL, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  rose on Thursday as
investors hoped for a good outcome after U.S. and Chinese
officials met on Wednesday for trade talks. However, the Korean
won edged lower as a deadline loomed for fresh U.S. tariffs on
China. Bond yields also fell.
    
** U.S. and Chinese officials met for the first time in over two
months to find a way out of their deepening trade conflict, but
there was no evidence the discussions would halt a new round of
U.S. tariffs due Thursday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VD302
 
** At 01:21 GMT, the KOSPI was up 4.48 points or 0.20 percent at
2,277.81.
    
** South Korean firms with China exposure gained on expectations
of lifting a boycott on South Korean businesses and tourism,
after a local media outlet reported that the Chinese government
allowed some Chinese tour agencies based in Shanghai to sell
South Korea tour packages. South Korean casino companies
Paradise Co Ltd  034230.KQ  and Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd
 114090.KS  rose 4.2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively,
while companies engaged in duty free business such as Hotel
Shilla Co Ltd  008770.KS  and Shinsegae Inc  004170.KS  soar 5.5
percent and 8.5 pct each. Shares of South Korea's cosmetic
brands also jumped.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1US2VV
 
** The won was quoted at 1,120.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.11 percent weaker than its
previous close of 1,118.9.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,119.69
per U.S. dollar, down 0.26 percent from the previous day, while
in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,102.85 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.04 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.26 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 7.9 percent so far this year, and
down by 0.91 percent in the previous 30 days.
 
** 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 93,138,000 shares and, of the total 887 traded
issues, the number of advancing shares was 439.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 29,316 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 5 percent against the won this year.
The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2
and the low is 1,140.4 on July 19.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.04 points to 108.71.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.955 percent, lower than the previous
day's 1.96 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sunil Nair)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))