Seoul: Stocks erase earlier gains; won edges up

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index weakened on Thursday. The Korean won gained in the local platform while bond yields fell. At 0633 GMT, the KOSPI was down 11.07 points or 0.45 per cent at 2,469.48. The index erased earlier gains as Thursday was expiration day for both KOSPI futures and options.

The won was quoted at 1,089.1 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.15 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,090.7. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,087.59 per US dollar, down 0.35 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,081.85 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.15 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild losses. Japanese stocks weakened 0.28 per cent. The KOSPI is up around 22.4 per cent so far this year, and down by 2.97 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 313,627,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 878, the number of advancing shares was 373.

Foreigners were net buyers of 372,566 million won worth of shares.

The USdollar has fallen 9.84 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,075.71 per dollar on Nov 29, 2017 and low is 1,211.8 on Jan 3, 2017.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.01 points to 108.31. The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.66 per cent compared with a previous close of 1.66 per cent, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.075 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.08 per cent.

REUTERS

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