S.Korean stocks slip, won edges up on US-EU trade tensions

SK discovery

25/07/2018 08:08

* KOSPI index falls, foreigners sell
    * Korean won climbs vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea bond yields down
    * For the midday report, please click  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UL1DG

    SEOUL, July 25 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  weakened on Wednesday
amid worries over trade talks between the U.S. President Donald
Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker set
later on Wednesday. The Korean won inched higher while bond
yields fell.
 
** At 0633 GMT, the KOSPI was down 7.17 points, or 0.31 percent,
at 2,273.03. Pharmaceutical firms fell sharply, leading the fall
in South Korean market. Samsung BioLogics  207940.KS  dropped
5.4 percent, while the sub-index for medical supplies  .KS32 
plunged 4.7 percent.

    ** Shares in major shareholders of South Korea's SK
Engineering & Construction fell after the collapse of a dam it
was building in Laos. SK E&C's No.1 shareholder, SK Holdings Co
Ltd  034730.KS , fell 5.1 percent while second-biggest
shareholder SK Discovery Co Ltd  006120.KS  lost 11.9 percent.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1UL08D
    
    ** However, South Korea's major petrochemical manufacturer
LG Chem Ltd  051910.KS  jumped on Wednesday after reporting its
largest ever quarterly sales of around 7.1 trillion won ($6.31
billion) on Tuesday. LG Chem surges as much as 10 percent to its
highest since June 19; also posts biggest percentage gain since
Aug 2011.
 
** The won was quoted at 1,126.3 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.79 percent firmer than its
previous close at 1,135.2. 
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,125.25
per U.S. dollar, up 0.1 percent from the previous day, while in
one-year non-deliverable forwards  KRWNDFOR=  it was being asked
at 1,108.95 per dollar. 
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.31 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the
previous session with gains. Japanese stocks  .N225  rose 0.46
percent.  MKTS/GLOB 
 
** The KOSPI is down around 7.6 percent so far this year, and
down by 7.69 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 volumes during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 305,498,000 shares and, of the total traded issues
of 890, the number of advancing shares was 304.
 
** Foreigners were net sellers of 172,889 million won worth of
shares.
 
** The U.S dollar has risen 5.52 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, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  rose 0.03 points to 108.19.
 
** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was
quoted at 1.65 percent compared with a previous close of 1.65
percent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded
2.082 percent, lower than the previous day's 2.09 percent.
 ($1 = 1,124.7500 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com;))