South Korean shares fall on Middle East conflict escalation

Samsung Electronics Co

Yesterday 03:52

KOSPI falls, foreigners net sellers
Korean won weakens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, June 11 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares fell on Thursday as risk appetite retreated as the Middle East conflict escalated overnight.
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 was down 141.39 points, or 1.83%, at 7,589.43 as of 0233 GMT. 
** The KOSPI briefly turned higher during the session on a jump in chipmaker SK Hynix 000660.KS, after falling as much as 4.4% earlier.
** The United States launched new strikes against multiple targets overnight in Iran, the U.S. military said on Wednesday, as President Donald Trump vowed even more attacks if no peace deal is secured.
** South Korea's exports in the first 10 days of this month surged 85.9% from a year earlier on strong chip sales, data showed. 
** Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics 005930.KS fell 2.15%, while peer SK Hynix gained 0.59%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution 373220.KS slid 1.82%.
** Hyundai Motor 005380.KS and sister automaker Kia Corp 000270.KS were down 3.99% and down 5.07%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings 005490.KS shed 4.68%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics 207940.KS fell 2.23%.
** Of the total 921 traded issues, 265 shares advanced, while 622 declined.
** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 1.8 trillion won ($1.18 billion). 
** The won was quoted at 1,528.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.54% lower than its previous close at 1,520.2.
** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds KTBc1 lost 0.04 point to 103.09.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield KR3YT=RR rose by 0.7 basis point to 3.897%, while the benchmark 10-year yield KR10YT=RR rose by 0.7 basis point to 4.283%.

($1 = 1,527.6800 won)

 (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
 ((jihoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com;))