Seoul: Stocks post worst day in 3 weeks as Omicron fears trigger foreign sell-off

[SEOUL] South Korean shares on Monday (Dec 20) posted their worst session in 3 weeks as worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant and tighter curbs in Europe triggered a steep sell-off by foreign investors. Both the Korean won and the benchmark bond yield fell.

The Kospi ended down 54.73 points, or 1.81 per cent, at 2,963.00, the lowest close since Dec 2 and marking the sharpest daily fall since Nov 30.

Tech heavyweights led the declines, with chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix falling 1.15 per cent and 1.23 per cent, respectively, while web portal operator Naver dropped 2.99 per cent.

On the main Kospi board, foreigners sold net 552.3 billion won (S$634.4 million) worth of shares, the biggest daily outflow since Oct 29.

Investors rushed toward safe havens as the Omicron variant continued to spread, pushing the Netherlands into lockdown and putting pressure on others to follow.

Citing high US inflation and a job market that's nearing its full potential at least while the Covid-19 pandemic continues, Federal Reserve policymakers on Friday (Dec 17) laid out a case for raising interest rates soon after the central bank ends its bond-buying program in March.

The won ended at 1,190.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.83 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,180.9.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,191.4 per dollar, down 0.3 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,191.3.

In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds rose 0.12 points to 109.44.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 3.2 basis points to 1.741 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 4.5 basis points to 2.108 per cent.

REUTERS