Seoul: Stocks slip for second day on US inflation woes

[SEOUL] South Korean shares fell on Thursday (Nov 11), tracking overnight Wall Street weakness as soaring US inflation figures sparked concerns that monetary policy might be tightened more quickly.

The Korean won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi fell 5.25 points or 0.18 per cent to 2,924.92 as at 6.30 am GMT.

Faster than expected US inflation and a drop in Wall Street shares led to some losses on Kospi, said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.43 per cent and peer SK Hynix fell 0.92 per cent, while LG Chem rose 2.44 per cent and Naver fell 1.81 per cent.

Foreigners were net buyers of 94.9 billion won (S$108.8 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,180.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.01 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,180.9.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,180.6 per dollar, up 0.4 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its 1-month contract was quoted at 1,181.5.

The Kospi has risen 1.79 per cent so far this year, but lost 6.5 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 563.41 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 928, the number of advancing shares was 214.

The won has lost 8 per cent against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, December futures on 3-year treasury bonds fell 0.08 point to 108.66.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 3.6 basis points to 1.912 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.6 basis points to 2.343 per cent.

REUTERS