S.Korean stocks jump on U.S.-China trade optimism; won gains

Samsung Publishing

09/01/2019 07:05

* KOSPI index jumps, foreigners buy
    * Korean won inches up vs. USD
    * South Korea bond yields up
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z912V

    SEOUL, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  ended up nearly 2
percent on Wednesday on growing optimism over trade deal between
the United States and China. The Korean won inched up while bond
yields also rose.
    
    ** The U.S. trade delegation in Beijing is "wrapping up"
meetings with Chinese officials and will return to the United
States later on Wednesday after a "good few days", a U.S.
official said.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z91X1
        
    ** At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI closed up 39.44 points or 1.95
percent at 2,064.71. The benchmark index posted its biggest
daily percentage gain since November 2018.
    
    ** Expectations over trade negotiation between the U.S. and
China lifted KOSPI, while reports on the U.S. trade delegation
boosted the gains, said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Kiwoom
Securities.
    
    ** South Korea's sub-index for electric and electronic
 .KS41  and transportation equipment  .KS42  towed gains in the
KOSPI market after the Chinese government plans to boost
domestic spending on autos and home appliances, Seo added.
    
    ** China plans to introduce policies to boost domestic
spending on items such as autos and home appliances this year,
state television CCTV quoted a senior state planning official as
saying on Tuesday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z83P9
    
    ** Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  and SK
Hynix Inc  000660.KS  closed up 3.9 percent and 7.4 percent,
respectively, on bargain-hunting as investors expect the stocks
to bounce back from its recent lows.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z91Y2
    
    ** Shares of South Korean publisher Samsung Publishing Co
Ltd  068290.KS  ended 29.8 percent higher as children's song
'Baby Shark', breaks into Top 40 on Billboard Hot 100 chart. The
publisher owns around 20 percent stake of Smart Study, which
created the song that went viral.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1Z920Q
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,122.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.18 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,124.1.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,121.31 per U.S. dollar, up 0.05 percent from the previous day,
while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was
being asked at 1,105.55 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 1.50 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  rose 1.1 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 0.8 percent so far this year,
and down by 2.16 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 379,519,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 646.
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 384,760 million won worth
of shares.
    
    ** The won's high for the year is 1,114.7 per dollar on Jan.
2 and low is 1,130.05 on Jan. 3.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  remained flat at 109.23.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.86 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.813 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.81 percent.

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