S.Korean won rises with most Asian currencies, KOSPI steady

SAMSUNG SDS

08/08/2018 08:08

* KOSPI index inches up, foreigners buy
    * Korean won gains versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UZ1BN

    Aug 8 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korean won strengthened against the dollar along with
other Asian currencies on Wednesday, driven by unexpected rise
of China's foreign exchange reserves. The KOSPI stock index
 .KS11  rose modestly while bond yields fell.
   
** The won was quoted at 1,119.9 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.35 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,123.8. 
 
** The KOSPI ended up 1.29 points, or 0.06 percent, at 2,301.45,
amid trade tensions looming again after the United States
imposed tariff on more Chinese goods.
    
** Shares of Samsung Group's biopharmaceutical unit, Samsung
Biologics  207940.KS , added 7 percent, while the group's
information technology firm, Samsung SDS  018260.KS , jumped 5.8
percent, after the group's investment plan was unveiled.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UZ2KQ

** Following a media report about Hyundai Motor Group's
restructuring plan, shares of Hyundai Motor  005380.KS  and
Hyundai Mobis  012330.KS  closed up 2 percent and 2.9 percent,
respectively. Hyundai Glovis  086280.KS , the group's logistics
unit, closed down 4 percent.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UZ07F
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,119.4 per
dollar, down 0.22 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,102.3 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.36 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  weakened 0.08 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 6.8 percent so far this year, and up
by 2.16 percent in the last 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 288,038,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 896, the number of advancing shares was 355.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 68,136 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The dollar has risen 4.97 percent against the won this year.
The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2
2018 and low is 1,140.4 on July 19 2018.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.03 points to 108.23.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.078 percent, lower than the previous
day's 2.08 percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))