S.Korea stocks trade flat; won gains

SK Chemicals

24/10/2018 03:19

* KOSPI index steady; foreigners sell
    * Korean won climbs versus U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields up

    SEOUL, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  was steady on
Wednesday after sharp losses in the previous session while the
Korean won rebounded and was the best performer among Asian
currencies. Bond yields also rose.
 
** At 01:39 GMT, the KOSPI was up 3.18 points or 0.15 percent at
2,109.28, after hitting the lowest in almost 20 months in the
previous session.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nZZN2YF900 
    
** There could be limited recovery in South Korean market, but
external uncertainties such as Sino-U.S. trade friction and
Italy's 2019 budget issue remain, said Ko Seung-hee, an analyst
at Mirae Asset Daewoo. 
    
** Chip giants, Samsung Electronics  005930.KS  and SK Hynix
 000660.KS  witnessed selling on worries over near-term outlook,
falling 1.6 percent and 4 percent, respectively.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X408P

** South Korean chemical shares, including SK Chemicals
 285130.KS  and Lotte Chemical  011170.KS , jump after the
United States said polyethylene terephthalate resin from Korea
does not injure U.S. Industry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1X4171    
 
** The won was quoted at 1,135.5 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.18 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,137.6. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,133.7 per
U.S. dollar, up 0.1 percent from the previous day while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being
transacted at 1,114.55 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.43 percent after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with mild losses  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks
 .N225  rose 0.37 percent. 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 14.6 percent so far this year and
has shed 9.05 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 159,434,000 shares, and of the total traded issues
of 892, the number of advancing shares was 340.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 113,551 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 6.31 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  rose 0.01 points to 108.55.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.7 percent while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury
bond yielded 1.996 percent, higher than the previous day's 1.99
percent.

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))