South Korea: Stocks, won calm; major tech shares shine

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index barely moved on March 13, 2018. The Korean won was tentative on the local platform while bond yields fell.

At 01:42 GMT, the Kospi was up 2.28 points or 0.09 per cent at 2,486.40.

Major tech shares like SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics were set to post large gains following gains in their US counterparts overnight with upbeat chip outlook lending additional support. SK Hynix hit a five-month high in early trade.

The won was quoted at 1,065.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.03 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,065.2.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,064.83 per US dollar, down 0.08 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,053.8 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.11 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with losses. Japanese stocks weakened 0.11 per cent.

The Kospi is up around 0.7 per cent so far this year, and up by 2.12 per cent in the previous 30 days.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 per cent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 155,953,000 shares, and of the 833 traded issues the number of advancing shares was 255.

Foreigners were net buyers of 211,737 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has fallen 0.14 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per dollar on January 14, 2018 and low is 1,098.4 on February 6, 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.03 points to 107.72.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.294 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.31 per cent.

REUTERS