S.Korea stocks rebound, won gains on suspected intervention by FX authorities

Very Good Tour Co

30/05/2019 03:28

* KOSPI index rebounds, foreigners buy
    * Korean won gains against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yields rise

    SEOUL, May 30 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    South Korea's KOSPI stock index  .KS11  bounced back on
Thursday, after it fell more than 1% in the previous session hit
by MSCI emerging market index rebalance. The Korean won gained
as foreign exchange authorities were suspected to have sold
dollars to curb the current weakness, while the benchmark bond
yields also rose.
    
    ** "It seems like a technical rally with the sell-off from
MSCI emerging market index rebalancing issue cooling down," said
Lee Won, an analyst at Bookook Securities said.
    
    ** Gains in the market heavyweight Samsung Electronics
 005930.KS  due to hopes for any advantages it could gain from
Washington's move against Huawei, seems to be reflected in
KOSPI's gain, Lee added.
    
    ** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI rose 4.36 points or
0.22% to 2,027.68 points.
    
    ** Shares of Very Good Tour Co  094850.KQ  declined 9.1% to
their lowest since April 2013, after a pleasure boat mostly
carrying South Korean tourists capsized in the Danube River in
the Hungarian capital, killing at least seven people on
Wednesday.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2360A9
    
    ** Foreigners were net buyers of 34.6 billion won ($29.07
million) worth of shares on the main board. 
    
    ** Financial markets are waiting for the Bank of Korea's
policy rate meeting scheduled on Friday, while taking a cautious
stance on any comments from the foreign exchange authorities on
the won's current weakness.
    
    ** South Korea's central bank is expected to keep monetary
policy unchanged at 1.75% this week, according to a Reuters
poll, although pressure is growing to cut interest rates as the
ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute hits global demand for the
country's exports.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N21X29H
        
    ** The won was quoted at 1,191.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.23% higher than its previous
close at 1,193.9.
    
    ** South Korea's foreign exchange authorities were suspected
to have sold dollars to curb weakness in the won  KRW=KFTC  on
Thursday morning, several dealers told Reuters.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N22E007
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,191.0
per U.S. dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,189.0 per dollar.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan  .MIAPJ0000PUS  was down 0.17%, after U.S. stocks dipped
as trade war fear persists  MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225 
fell 0.82%.
    
    ** The KOSPI has fallen 0.65% so far this year, and lost
9.8% in the previous 30 trading sessions.
    
    ** The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the
dividend yield is 1.28% and the market capitalisation is
1,242.04 trillion won.
    
    ** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 210.88 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 893, the number of advancing shares was 305.
    
    ** The won has lost 6.3% against the U.S dollar so far this
year.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by
1.0 basis points to 1.630%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
rose by 1.1 basis points to 1.753%.


($1 = 1,190.4000 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
 ((joori.roh@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5642; Reuters
Messaging: joori.roh.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))