S.Korean stocks jump on bargain-hunting after MSCI EM rebalance

Samsung E&A Co

03/06/2019 08:54

* KOSPI index gains 1.3%, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won strengthens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23A0OO

    SEOUL, June 3 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
** South Korean shares rose more than 1% on Monday as the won's
bounce-back eased concerns about possible capital flight, and as
investors hunted for bargains on perception that blue chips have
been oversold in the wake of weightage changes in MSCI indexes. 
     
** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI index  .KS11  ended up
26.11 points, or 1.28%, at 2,067.85 points.  
    
** Foreign capital inflow was prompted by the end of MSCI EM
index rebalancing, said Ha In-hwan, an analyst at Meritz
Securities. Domestic stocks have been undervalued and the recent
fall of the won against the dollar made investors see the major
index was relatively cheaper, he added. 
    
** Foreigners were net buyers of 291.5 billion won ($246.51
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
** Shares of Samsung Engineering  028050.KS  lost nearly 10%
after Saudi Al Toukhi and VISION asked a court to arbitrate in a
dispute over the cancellation of Saudi's Yanbu project.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N23A05K
    
** The won was quoted at 1,182.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.74% higher than its previous
close at 1,190.9, after the currency rose as high as 1,178.6 per
dollar. 
     
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,182.1 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 1,181.0 per dollar.
    
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.35%, after U.S. stocks stumbled
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  fell 0.92%.
    
** The KOSPI has risen 1.31% so far this year, but has lost 9.1%
in the previous 30 trading sessions.
        
** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend
yield is 1.28% and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04
trillion won.
    
** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 381.01 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 894, the number of advancing shares was 401.
    
** The won has lost 5.6% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
    
** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.02 points to 110.01, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.83%.
    
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.6
basis points to 1.581%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose
by 1.3 basis points to 1.695%.

($1 = 1,182.5000 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters
Messaging: hayoung.choi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))