S.Korean stocks wobble on global growth concerns; won gains

Pungguk Ethanol

18/12/2018 06:52

* KOSPI index slides, foreigners sell
    * Korean won rises against USD
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YN085

    SEOUL, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  dipped on Tuesday
as deepening concerns over a slowing global economy sent Wall
Street tumbling overnight. The Korean won rose ahead of the U.S.
central bank monetary decision while bond yields fell.
    
    ** Wall Street's major indexes slid more than 2 percent
overnight, with the benchmark S&P 500 closing at its lowest in
14 months, on concerns about slowing economic growth ahead of a
highly anticipated decision from the Federal Reserve this week
on the course of U.S. interest-rate hikes.  .N 
    
    ** Two days before the Federal Reserve is expected to raise
interest rates for a fourth time this year, U.S. President
Donald Trump and his top trade adviser on Monday ratcheted up
their criticism of the central bank's monetary tightening.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1YM0S1
    
    ** Investors have bet heavily that the U.S. central bank
will raise rates at the end of its two-day policy meeting on
Wednesday. Many economists also see the Fed increasing rates
next year, although at a slower pace.
    
    ** At 06:33 GMT, the KOSPI was down 8.98 points or 0.43
percent at 2,062.11.
    
    ** Shares of hydrogen-powered car parts companies surged
after South Korea unveiled a policy package to provide financial
support worth over 3.5 trillion won ($3.10 billion) in car parts
makers industry while encouraging the use of electric cars. It
plans to expand the budget for subsidies on electric and
hydrogen vehicles next year, which can apply to 42,000 electric
cars from the current level of 26,500, the government added.
Shares of PungkukAlcholnd  023900.KQ  jumped 29.7 percent while
Inzi Controls Co Ltd  0023800.KS  and Neuros Co Ltd  126870.KQ 
rose 18.4 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1YN1H3
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,129.6 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.15 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,131.3.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,129.31 per U.S. dollar, down 0.1 percent from the previous
day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it
was being asked at 1,108.9 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.76 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with big losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 1.82 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 16.1 percent so far this year,
and down by 0.28 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 423,880,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 893, the number of advancing shares was 294.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 170,870 million won worth
of shares.
    
    ** The U.S dollar has risen 5.9 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 1,146.26 on Oct. 11.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.03 point to 109.13.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.9 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.788 percent, lower than the previous
day's 1.80 percent.

($1 = 1,129.7000 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sunil Nair)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5642; Reuters
Messaging: joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))