Seoul: Stocks post biggest weekly drop in a month on virus fears

[SEOUL] South Korea's shares ended at a 2-week low on Friday (Nov 26) and posted their biggest weekly fall in a month, as a near-record daily infections at home and a new coronavirus variant spreading in Africa spooked investors.

Both the won and the benchmark bond yield also fell.

The benchmark KOSPI ended down 43.83 points, or 1.47 per cent, at 2,936.44, the lowest close since Nov 11 and extending the declines to a fourth straight session.

The index lost 1.16 per cent this week, the sharpest in 4 weeks.

Leading the declines were chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, falling 1.9 per cent and 1.7 per cent, respectively, while battery maker LG Chem and platform company Naver also slumped 2.44 per cent and 1.89 per cent each.

The variant, spreading in South Africa, raises concerns that it might make vaccines less effective and imperil efforts to fight the pandemic, prompting Britain to introduce travel restrictions.

Virus woes have also raised concerns in South Korea, where the health minister said the government is reviewing whether to make changes to its "living with Covid-19" policies, as cases continue to remain elevated.

Foreigners were net sellers of 179.2 billion won (S$205.8 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won ended at 1,193.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.26 per cent lower to the lowest level in 6 weeks.

It weakened 0.67 per cent on a weekly basis, the sharpest pace in 3 weeks.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,193.5, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,194.1.

In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds rose 0.34 points to 108.98.

The benchmark 10-year yield fell by 11.9 basis points to 2.228 per cent.

REUTERS