Seoul: Stocks rebounds from previous losses, won edges down

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Wednesday after falling more than one per cent the previous day. The Korean won inched lower in the local platform while bond yields fell.

At 0630 GMT, the Kospi was up 14.53 points or 0.6 per cent at 2,429.65. Local insitutions' stock purchases lent support to the benchmark index.

The won was quoted at 1,076.2 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.25 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,073.5.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,075.49 per US dollar, down 0.15 percent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,064.25 per US dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.73 per cent, after US stocks were off for the previous session. Japanese stocks rose 0.21 per cent.

The Kospi is down around 2.1 per cent so far this year, and down by 3.3 per cent in the previous 30 days.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 per cent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won (S$1.53 million).

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 426,468,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 884, the number of advancing shares was 513.

Foreigners were net sellers of 101,438 million won worth of shares. The US dollar has risen 0.86 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per US dollar on Jan 14 and low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.08 points to 107.58.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.3 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.32 per cent.

REUTERS