S.Korean stocks slip; Samsung C&T hit by Samsung BioLogics woes

Shinsegae

15/11/2018 03:47

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners sell
    * Korean won gains against dollar
    * South Korean bond yields up

    SEOUL, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    ** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  slipped on
Thursday, as overnight losses on Wall Street and worries over
global growth curbed positive sentiment. The Korean won and bond
yields rose.
    
    ** At 03:39 GMT, the KOSPI was down 1.77 points or 0.09
percent at 2,066.28. The market opened an hour later than usual
on account of nationwide college entrance examinations.
    
    ** Shares of engineering firm Samsung C&T Corp  028260.KS 
tumbled as much as 5.8 percent after South Korea's regulator
said Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS  intentionally breached
accounting rules, leading to a trading halt in the drugmaker's
shares and a review of its listing status. 
    
    ** Samsung BioLogics is 75 percent owned by tech giant
Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  and Samsung C&T, in which
Samsung group heir Jay Y.Lee is the top shareholder.
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    ** Shares of South Korean firms engaged in duty free
businesses surged after local media reported that China lifted a
ban on the online sale of group tour programs to South Korea. 
Shinsegae Inc  004170.KS  and Hotel Shilla Co Ltd  008770.KS 
surged as much as 10.2 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.
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    ** The won was quoted at 1,131.1 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC ,  0.28 percent firmer than  its
previous close at 1,134.3.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at
1,129.67 per U.S. dollar, up 0.18 percent from the previous day,
while in one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was
being transacted at 1,109.3 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.35 percent, after U.S. stocks
ended the previous session with losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese
stocks  .N225  weakened 0.39 percent.
    
    ** The KOSPI is down around 16.2 percent so far this year,
and down by 11.58 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 157,649,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 892, the number of advancing shares was 336.
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 87,970 million won worth
of shares.
    
    ** The U.S. dollar has risen 6.14 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 1,146.26 on October 11 2018.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  fell 0.02 points to 108.78.
    
    ** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate
was quoted at 1.7 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 1.923 percent, higher than the previous
day's 1.92 percent.
    

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))