S.Korean stocks slip as oil extends fall; won gains ahead of Fed chief's testimony

Seoul Information Service

17/07/2018 08:09

* KOSPI index edges down, foreigners sell
    * Korean won gains against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UD1CI

    SEOUL, July 17 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  weakened on Tuesday
as crude oil prices extended falls, while the won rose ahead of
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's first congressional
testimony. Bond yields rose.
 
** At 06:30 GMT, the KOSPI was down 4.07 points, or 0.18
percent, at 2,297.92. The sub-index for chemicals  .KS29 
dropped 1.6 percent with LG Chem  051910.KS  and Lotte Chemical
 011170.KS  shedding 2.0 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.
    
** Asiana Airlines  020560.KS  jumped 22.9 percent in intraday
trade after a local media outlet reported that domestic
conglomerate SK Group was considering a takeover. The stock cut
its gains and closed 3 percent higher after the conglomerate's
holding firm, SK Holdings  034730.KS , said in a regulatory
filing that it was not considering buying the airline.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UD06P
    
** Cryptocurrency shares skyrocketed after BlackRock In  BLK.N 
Chief Executive Larry Fink said on Monday that the world's
largest asset manager had assembled a working group to look at
blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.
Venture capital company Woori Technology Investment  041190.KQ 
surged 29.2 percent, while SCI Information Service  036120.KQ ,
which provides credit information services, jumped 22.2 percent.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UD2HL
 
** The won was quoted at 1,124.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.45 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,129.2. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,123.14
per U.S. dollar, up 0.4 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,107.35 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.37 percent, after U.S. stocks ended
the previous session with losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.44 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 6.7 percent so far this year, and
down by 4.99 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 365,351,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 891, the number of advancing shares was 332.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 138,479 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 5.33 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 1,133.98 on July 13, 2018.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.01 points to 108.16.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.093 percent, higher than the previous
day's 2.09 percent.

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))