South Korea: Stocks rise, won firms

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Thursday. The Korean won rose while bond yields fell.

At 02:48 GMT, the Kospi was up 3.91 points or 0.15 per cent at 2,556.31.

The won was quoted at 1,112.5 per US dollar, up 0.06 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,108.1 per dollar.

The won was quoted at 1,113.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , where it ended the previous session at 1,115.6.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.41 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.98 per cent.

The Kospi is up around 26.0 per cent so far this year, and up by 5.64 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 151,478,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 873, the number of advancing shares was 478.

Foreigners were net sellers of 89,905 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has fallen 7.77 per cent against the won this year.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 107.93.

The benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.148 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.151 per cent.

REUTERS