Seoul: Stocks post weekly decline as Evergrande debt woes continue

[SEOUL] South Korean shares fell on Friday as fears lingered over property developer China Evergrande's debt burden after some offshore bondholders of the firm were reportedly not paid interest payments. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi was down 2.34 points or 0.07 per cent at 3,125.24 as of 6.30am GMT. For the week, the index declined 0.49 per cent.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.13 per cent and peer SK Hynix slipped 1.42 per cent, while LG Chem rose 0.13 per cent and Naver climbed 1.38 per cent.

Some of China Evergrande Group's offshore bondholders had not received interest payment by a Thursday deadline US time, two people familiar with the matter said, as worries about the fate of the property developer mount.

The market is still full of uncertainties and many remain in a wait-and-see mode, said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

Foreigners were net buyers of 77.3 billion won (S$88.6 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,176.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.08 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,175.5.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,177.2 per dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,177.7.

The Kospi has risen 8.76 per cent so far this year, but lost 4.4 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 737.66 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 926, the number of advancing shares was 370.

The won has lost 7.7 per cent against the dollar so far this year.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.8 basis points to 1.574 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 5.2 basis points to 2.151 per cent.

REUTERS