Seoul: Stocks fall on tech sell-off, US tapering uncertainty

[SEOUL] South Korean shares fell on Tuesday, dragged down by tech heavyweights, with investors refraining from making big bets on uncertainties about the tapering of US Federal Reserve's bond purchase programme. Both the won and the benchmark bond yield weakened.

The benchmark Kospi ended down 15.91 points or 0.50 per cent at 3,187.42.

Chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 1.55 per cent and 1.42 per cent, respectively, while portal web operator Naver and mobile messenger app operator Kakao dropped 2.09 per cent and 0.96 per cent, respectively.

Foreigners were net sellers of 327.2 billion won (S$379.2 million) worth of shares on the main board.

"Foreign investment in (Kospi) stocks seem to be volatile ahead of the expiry of front-end Kospi futures and options," said Bookook Securities' analyst Lee Won.

China's exports unexpectedly grew at a faster pace in August, thanks to solid global demand, helping take some of the pressure off the world's second-biggest economy as it navigates its way through headwinds from several fronts.

The won ended at 1,157.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.11 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,156.5.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,157.9 per dollar, down 0.1 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,158.1.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.02 point to 110.36.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.1 basis point to 1.461 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.3 basis point to 1.968 per cent.

REUTERS