Seoul: Stocks close flat in holiday-thin trade

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index barely moved on Monday in holiday-thin trade, as foreigners and institutions' net selling nearly offset individuals' buying. The South Korean won weakened while the benchmark bond yield rose.

Seoul stock market's main Kospi ended up 0.50 point or 0.02 per cent to 2,216.65 points. Foreigners were net sellers of 13.6 billion won worth of shares on the main board, while institutions were net sellers of 50.3 billion won worth of stocks. Individuals were net buyer of 70.3 billion won worth of shares.

The won quoted at 1,141.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.40 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,136.9.

In offshore trading, the won quoted at 1,141.6 per US dollar, down 0.5 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract quoted at 1,140.4 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.24 per cent, after US stocks markets were closed for holiday. Japanese stocks rose 0.08 per cent.

The Kospi has risen 8.60 per cent so far this year, and rose 3.7 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

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.

The trading volume during the session was 487.91 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 894, the number of advancing shares was 414.

The won has lost 2.3 per cent against the US dollar this year.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.05 point to 109.35, while the three-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.85 per cent.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.8 basis points to 1.773 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.6 basis points to 1.935 per cent.

REUTERS