Seoul: Stocks up for 4th session; won ends at 3-week high

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index rose for a fourth straight session on Monday to reach its highest in two weeks. The Korean won strengthened against greenback, closing at a three-week high and bond yields also climbed. At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was up 20.99 points or 0.87 per cent at 2,442.82. The benchmark index was supported by improving sentiment globally.

The won was quoted at 1,067.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.9 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,077.2. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,066.08 per US dollar, down 0.03 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was transacted at 1,056.95 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.45 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.97 per cent. The KOSPI is down around 1.9 per cent so far this year, and down by 2.59 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 319,304,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 883, the number of advancing shares was 645.

Foreigners were net buyers of 26,635 million won worth of shares. The US dollar has risen 0.03 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per dollar on Jan 14 and low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.1 points to 107.54. The South Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.305 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.27 per cent.

REUTERS