S.Korean stocks climb as trade worries ease; won gains

SHINWON

21/09/2018 08:31

* KOSPI index gains, foreigners buy
    * Korean won climbs vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1W71CL

    SEOUL, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  closed higher on
Friday as investors risk appetite recovered after Wall Street
scored all-time highs overnight on expectation trade tariffs to
have a softer impact on global growth than feared. The won
gained, while bond yields fell.
    
** While third-quarter earnings forecast by domestic companies
is expected to be good, investors seem to have taken a
wait-and-see approach before the tariffs set by both the United
States and China take effect around Sept. 24, during the
national holiday, said Kim Young-hwan, an analyst at KB
Securities.
 
** At 06:32 GMT, the KOSPI closed 15.72 points, or 0.68 percent,
higher at 2,339.17. For the week, the benchmark index climbed
0.9 percent, its second straight weekly gain.

** Chipmaker SK Hynix  000660.KS  fell 3 percent after Micron
Technology Inc  MU.O  forecast first-quarter revenue below
estimate.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1W709D

** South Korean companies which used to have a branch in the
Kaesong Industrial Complex jumped on optimism over the
resumption of the joint industrial zone in North Korea. Shinwon
Corp  009270.KS  and In The F Co Ltd  014990.KS  rose 9.6
percent and 5.8 percent respectively, while jewellery brand J.
Estina co Ltd  026040.KQ  closed 6.6 percent higher.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1W71C1     
 
** The won was quoted at 1,115.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.46 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,120.4. It rose 0.1 percent on a weekly
basis.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,115.21
per U.S. dollar, up 0.08 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,098 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 1.30 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild gains  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.82 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 5.8 percent so far this year, and up
by 0.96 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 306,545,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 897, the number of advancing shares was 573.
 
** Foreigners were net buyers of 40,919 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 4.58 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, December futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.06 points to 108.28.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean
treasury bond yielded 2.031 percent.

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