Seoul: Stocks drop the most in 11 months after Wall Street swing
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[SEOUL] South Korean shares logged the biggest daily drop in 11 months on Tuesday (Jan 25) after concerns over geopolitical tension in Ukraine and US monetary policy tightening fuelled wild volatility on Wall Street. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
The benchmark Kospi fell 71.61 points or 2.56 per cent to 2,720.39 as of 6.33 am GMT.
Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 1.46 per cent and peer SK Hynix fell 0.84 per cent, while LG Chem fell 4.17 per cent and Naver fell 1.98 per cent.
Although US shares rebounded overnight the wild swings investors saw there added uncertainties for markets here and pushed down the Kospi index further in the afternoon, said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
North Korea fired what appeared to be 2 cruise missiles into the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, days after a flurry of ballistic missile tests.
Foreigners were net sellers of 464 billion won (S$520.3 million) worth of shares on the main board.
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The won was quoted at 1,198.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.21 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,196.1.
In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,198.3 per dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,199.3.
The Kospi has fallen 8.64 per cent so far this year, but lost 7.2 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.
The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 629.84 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 930, the number of advancing shares was 53.
The won has lost 0.8 per cent against the dollar so far this year.
In money and debt markets, March futures on 3-year treasury bonds fell 0.13 point to 108.04.
The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 5.8 basis points to 2.169 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.3 basis points to 2.571 per cent.
REUTERS
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