Seoul: Stocks, won edge higher as trade war fears ease

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index inched up along with other Asian shares on Wednesday after Chinese President Xi Jinping helped ease fears over a US-China trade war. The Korean won was slightly higher against the US dollar in the local platform, while bond yields fell.

At 0129 GMT, the Kospi was up 4.54 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 2,455.28.

The won was quoted at 1,065.8 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.06 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,066.4.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,065.6 per US dollar, down 0.17 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,050.1 per US dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.23 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with gains. Japanese stocks weakened 0.03 per cent.

The Kospi is down around 0.7 per cent so far this year, and down by 0.28 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 (S$1.53 trillion).

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 129,115,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 881, the number of advancing shares was 397.

Foreigners were net buyers of 25,506 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has fallen 0.07 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per US dollar on April 2 and low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.02 points to 107.87.

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 2.177 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.19 per cent.

REUTERS