South Korea: Stocks slip for second day, won edges down

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index weakened on Thursday, as growing concerns over trade tensions weighed on investor sentiment globally. The Korean won inched down, while bond yields fell.

At 01.12 GMT, the Kospi was down 13.45 points or 0.50 per cent at 2,472.63.

The won was quoted at 1,065.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.12 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,064.6.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,066.5 per US dollar, down 0.28 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,055.6 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.25 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with losses. Japanese stocks weakened 0.97 per cent.

The Kospi is up around 0.8 per cent so far this year, and has risen by 3.44 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 133,351,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 876, the number of advancing shares was 210.

Foreigners were net sellers of 3,448 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 0.01 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 rose 0.08 points to 107.89.

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 2.253 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.27 per cent.

REUTERS