Seoul: Stocks reverse losses to end higher; won up

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index closed up on Tuesday, recovering from earlier losses in the session. The Korean won rose while bond yields were muted.

At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was up 8.45 points or 0.34 per cent at 2,510.12.

The won was quoted at 1,085.8 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.27 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,088.7.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,084.31 per US dollar, up 0.09 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,080.88 per US dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.15 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild losses. Japanese stocks weakened 0.37 per cent.

The KOSPI is up around 23.5 per cent so far this year, and down by 0.47 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 387,710,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 871, the number of advancing shares was 520.

Foreigners were net buyers of 54,172 million won worth of shares. The US dollar has fallen 10.11 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 fell 0.07 points to 108.2. The benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.091 per cent, slightly higher than the previous day's 2.08 per cent.

REUTERS