Seoul: Stocks fall for 3rd day on caution over central bank meetings

[SEOUL] South Korean shares ended lower for a third straight session on Tuesday (Dec 14), as a slew of upcoming central bank decisions kept investors wary of riskier assets. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield also fell.

The benchmark Kospi closed down 13.71 points or 0.46 per cent at 2,987.95.

Battery makers LG Chem and Samsung SDI dropped 5.01 per cent and 3.27 per cent, respectively. Chip giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.26 per cent but peer SK Hynix fell 0.41 per cent.

"Kospi fell on caution over the (US) Federal Open Market Committee meeting and as fears heightened after the first death from the Omicron variant was discovered in Britain," said Kim Seok-hwan, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

Investor focus was mainly on the US Federal Reserve meeting outcome due this week on the possibility that the central bank will start raising rates in 2022.

The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan will also meet this week, and are each heading toward normalising their own monetary policies.

Shares of Samsung Biologics rose 2.06 per cent after the company said it would expand a partnership with AstraZeneca to manufacture a cancer immunotherapy product along with Covid-19 long-acting antibody combination.

On the main Kospi board, foreigners sold net 358.8 billion won (S$415.4 million) worth of shares.

The won ended at 1,182.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.15 per cent lower than its previous close.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,181.7, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,181.6.

In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds rose 0.06 point to 109.23.

The benchmark 10-year yield fell by 1.8 basis points to 2.151 per cent.

REUTERS