Seoul: Stocks fall on ex-dividend date, Wall Street drop

[SEOUL] South Korean equities fell on Wednesday (Dec 29) after investors offloaded shares on the ex-dividend date, and as risk sentiment took a hit after 2 major Wall Street indexes snapped a 4-day rise overnight. The Korean won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

The benchmark Kospi fell 26.95 points, or 0.89 per cent, to 2,993.29.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics dropped 1.87 per cent and peer SK Hynix fell 0.39 per cent, while LG Chem declined 0.63 per cent and Naver slid 0.65 per cent.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 closed slightly lower after hitting a record intraday high on Tuesday, as a 4-day rally lost steam in thin trading and investors weighed Omicron-driven travel disruptions and store closures.

Meanwhile, a Reuters poll showed that South Korean exports likely grew for a 14th straight month in December on year-end holiday demand for chips and petrochemical goods, while inflation is expected to remain near a decade high.

Foreigners were net sellers of 121.8 billion won (S$138.9 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,186.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.13 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,188.0.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,187.3 per dollar, up 0.1 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,187.5.

The Kospi has risen 4.17 per cent so far this year, and gained 0.8 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 536.60 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 438.

The won has lost 8.4 per cent against the dollar so far this year.

REUTERS