Seoul: Stocks dip ahead of Trump-Kim summit; won gains

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index dipped on Tuesday as investors eye the summit between the United States and North Korea. The South Korean won strengthened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

The Seoul stock market's main index closed down 5.96 points or 0.27 per cent at 2,226.60 points.

The stock markets are taking breath ahead of the summit between the United States and North Korea, said analysts at Mirae Asset Daewoo.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold their second summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi on Feb 27-28.

Foreigners were net buyers of 20.9 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,118.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.21 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,121.0.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,118.6 per US dollar, down 0.3 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,117.7 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.91 per cent, after US stocks gained in previous session. Japanese stocks fell 0.37 per cent.

The Kospi has risen 9.09 per cent so far this year, gaining 8.1 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 on the Kospi index was 327.19 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 896, the number of advancing shares was 385.

The won has lost 0.3 per cent against the US dollar this year.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.03 points to 109.20, while the three-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.89 per cent.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.2 basis point to 1.817 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield declined 0.3 basis point to 2.008 per cent.

REUTERS