S.Korean shares track Wall St higher; SK Biopharmaceuticals jumps on debut

SK Biopharmaceuticals Co

02/07/2020 03:45

* KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won strengthens versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield falls

    SEOUL, July 2 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares rose on Thursday, tracking Wall
Street that rose on upbeat U.S. factory data and vaccine hopes.
The Korean won firmed, while the benchmark bond yield fell.
    
    ** The KOSPI  .KS11  gained 16.44 points, or 0.77%, to
2,122.89 by 0213 GMT. 
    
    ** While U.S. manufacturing activity rebounded in June and
hit the highest in more than a year, a COVID-19 vaccine
developed by German biotech firm BioNTech  BNTX.O  and U.S. firm
Pfizer  PFE.N  showed potential.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nN9N2BW017  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2E65DJ
    
    ** Optimistic investor sentiment outweighed persisting
worries of a rise in COVID-19 infections and a slower recovery,
said Lee Young-gon, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment. 
    
    ** Among individual shares, SK Biopharmaceuticals Co Ltd
 326030.KS  jumped nearly 30% in a Seoul stock market debut, as
the initial public offering market gathers steam after the novel
coronavirus outbreak stalled potential listings.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2E902Q
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 134.2 billion won ($111.74
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** The won was quoted 0.17% higher at 1,201.4 per dollar on
the onshore settlement platform  KRW=KFTC .
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted flat at
1,201.0 per dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading,
its one-month contract  KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,200.8 per
dollar. 
    
    ** In money and debt markets, September futures on
three-year treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.07 point to 112.08.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by
1.8 basis points to 0.831%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
fell by 2.8 basis points to 1.378%.

($1 = 1,200.9500 won)

 (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((jihoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +822 6936 0034;))