S.Korea stocks edge up on upbeat chip industry outlook; U.S. payrolls eyed

RAM TECHNOLOGY

04/10/2019 03:49

* KOSPI rises slightly, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won jumps versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

    SEOUL, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korean shares inched up on Friday as chipmakers rose on
upbeat outlook for the industry, but caution ahead of U.S.
payrolls capped gains. The won rose nearly 1% against the
dollar, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
** Falling semiconductor prices and the U.S.-China trade war
have bitten into profits at Samsung Electronics  005930.KS , but
analysts expect earnings growth next year as chip prices turn
around. Shares of Samsung Elec and SK Hynix  000660.KS  gained
1.4% and 1.8%, respectively.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N26L0W7
    
** Optimism over chipmakers' third-quarter profits lifted their
stocks and supported the broader markets, said Park Seok-hyun,
an analyst at KTB Investment & Securities. The focus is on U.S.
job report after weak U.S. manufacturing data, he added. 
    
** As of 0242 GMT, the KOSPI  .KS11  rose 2.79 points, or 0.14%,
to 2,034.70. 
    
** Shares of Ram Technology  171010.KQ  soared nearly 30% to hit
the intraday price limit on media reports that the company has
supplied liquid hydrogen fluoride to SK Hynix.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N26P07C
        
** Foreigners were net sellers of 48.6 billion won ($40.67
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** The won was quoted at 1,195.7 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.86% higher than its previous
close at 1,206.0.
    
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,195.4 per
U.S. dollar, up 0.5% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,194.6 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.33%, after U.S. stocks climbed
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  fell 0.18%.
    
** The KOSPI has fallen 0.32% so far this year, but gained 4.7%
in the previous 30 trading sessions.
    
** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 188.40 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 887, the number of advancing shares was 246.
    
** The won has lost 6.7% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
    
** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.18 points to 110.99.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 5.6
basis points to 1.248%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell
by 6.6 basis points to 1.431%.
    
($1 = 1,195.1000 won)    

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 6936 1468;))