Seoul: Stocks end lower on profit-taking in heavyweight firms

[SEOUL] South Korean shares closed lower on Wednesday, marking their steepest fall in a week, as both institutional and foreign investors net sold heavyweight stocks ahead of an expected change in policy on short-selling ban in May.

The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi fell 33.95 points or 1.06 per cent to 3,181.47 by 6.32am GMT.

Regulators are set to lift the current ban on short-selling of stocks in May, and investors are taking profits now before volatilities increase further, says Lee Won, an analyst at Bookook Securities.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.97 per cent and peer SK Hynix slid 3.70 per cent, while LG Chem fell and Naver fell 0.11 per cent and 1.71 per cent, respectively.

Foreigners were net sellers of 608.1 billion won (S$724.6 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,113.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, down 0.23 per cent.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,112.6 per dollar, up 0.1 per cent, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,112.2.

The Kospi has risen 10.72 per cent so far this year, and gained 4.8 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume was 1,397.89 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 908, the number of advancing shares was 189.

The won has lost 2.4 per cent against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.05 point to 110.89.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.1 basis points to 1.108 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.3 basis points to 2.084 per cent.

REUTERS