S.Korea stocks jump on trade talk hopes

YG Entertainment

09/08/2019 03:23

* KOSPI index rises, foreigners net buyers
    * Korean won weakens modestly vs U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield drops 

    SEOUL, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:

** South Korean shares rose more than 1% on Friday on
expectations of trade talks between the United State and China,
after a media report that negotiators were still expected to
meet next month. The Korean won and the benchmark bond yield
fell modestly. 

** Officials from the two countries are expected to convene in
Washington D.C. in September for another round of trade talks,
the South China Morning Post reported https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3021833/china-keeps-door-open-september-talks-washington-despite.

** Lingering worries over their trade spat capped gains of Asian
stocks, after Bloomberg reported that the U.S. held off on a
decision about licenses for U.S. companies to restart business
with China's Huawei Technologies  HWT.UL .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2541NH
    
** As of 0218 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main KOSPI  .KS11 
rose 25.02 points or 1.30% to 1,945.63. For the week, the index
is set to lose nearly 3%.
    
** Shares of YG Entertainment  122870.KQ , which manages top
K-pop performers, fell more than 8% on media reports police have
launched a preliminary investigation into the company founder.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N25503V
    
** Foreigners were net buyers of 20.9 billion won ($17.27
million) worth of shares on the main board by midday.
 
** The won was quoted at 1,210.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform  KRW=KFTC , 0.08% lower than its previous
close at 1,209.2.
 
** In offshore trading, the won  KRW=  was quoted at 1,210.3 per
U.S. dollar, down 0.3% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
 KRW1MNDFOR=  was quoted at 1,208.7 per dollar.
 
** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was up 0.33%, after U.S. stocks soared
 MKTS/GLOB . Japanese stocks  .N225  rose 0.57%.
 
** The KOSPI has fallen 4.90% so far this year, and lost 10.0%
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 in the KOSPI index
 .KS11  was 321.33 million shares and, of the total traded
issues of 890, the number of advancing shares was 544.
 
** The won has lost 7.8% against the U.S. dollar so far this
year.
 
** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year
treasury bonds  KTBc1  were unchanged at 111.26, while the
3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.49%.
 
** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.3
basis points to 1.168%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell
by 0.2 basis points to 1.267%.    
 ($1 = 1,210.3000 won)

 (Reporting by Hayoung Choi; editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
 ((hayoung.choi@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643;))