Seoul: Stocks slide on profit-taking after corporate earnings

[SEOUL] South Korean shares ended lower on Thursday, as investors booked profits following a series of corporate earnings reports from technology giants, offseting a near 7 per cent surge in LG Chem.

Both the won and the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi closed down 7.40 points or 0.23 per cent at 3,174.07, after falling 1.06 per cent on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, South Korea is due to resume stock short-selling partially on Monday, for those on Kospi 200 or Kosdaq 150.

Battery maker LG Chem surged nearly 7 per cent, leading gains in the benchmark, after it reported a more than six-fold jump in quarterly operating profit on Wednesday.

Chip giant Samsung Electronics slipped 0.49 per cent even after reporting a 46 per cent rise in first-quarter profit, as it expects mobile profits to drop in the current quarter.

After a two-day policy meeting, the US central bank noted progress on vaccines and economic recovery, but said "it is not time yet" to begin discussing any change in policy.

Foreigners were net sellers of 14.5 billion won (S$17.34 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,108.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.43 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,113.0.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,108.2 per dollar, up 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,107.9.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 point to 110.89.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.5 basis points to 1.119 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.4 basis points to 2.096 per cent.

REUTERS