Seoul: Stocks end lower as virus infection surges

[SEOUL] South Korean shares fell on Tuesday after five consecutive record-setting sessions, as swelling coronavirus infections eclipsed optimism over vaccine rollout deals. The won weakened, and the benchmark bond yield rose.

By 0632 GMT, the benchmark Kospi fell 44.51 points, or 1.62 per cent, to 2,700.93.

South Korea reported 594 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, and health authorities predicted daily cases would hover between 550 and 750 this week, and possibly spike to as much as 900 next week.

The government also said it had signed deals with four companies as part of a programme that will provide coronavirus vaccines for 44 million people.

Foreign investors began selling from Monday, and even Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are losing steam on lack of progress on US stimulus package and as virus cases swell, said Na Jeong-hwan, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities.

Samsung Electronics declined 1.65 per cent while SK Hynix dropped 2.54 per cent.

Foreigners were net sellers of 845.4 billion won (S$1.04 billion) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,085.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.30 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,082.1.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,085.6 per dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,084.8.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.10 per cent.

The Kospi has risen 22.90 per cent so far this year, and gained 17.1 per cent in the previous 30 sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 1,398.22 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 908, the number of advancing shares was 277.

The won has gained 6.5 per cent against the dollar this year.

The most liquid three-year South Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.2 basis point to 0.961 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.1 basis point to 1.648 per cent.

REUTERS