Seoul: Stocks edge up in line with Asia; won falls

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index was steady on Tuesday morning in line with broader Asia with trade concerns capping gains stemming from upbeat Wall Street earnings.

The Korean won slipped against a strong US dollar, while bond yields fell.

At 01:25 GMT, the Kospi was up 3.61 points or 0.16 per cent at 2,290.11.

Shares of Samsung Biologics gained over 6 per cent after a meeting between Samsung vice-chairman Lee Jae Yong and South Korean finance minister Kim Dong Yeon, where the minister vowed deregulations for the bioindustry.

The won was quoted at 1,125.9 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.17 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,124.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,126.3 per US dollar, down 0.05 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,108.75.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.13 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains.

Japanese stocks rose 0.3 per cent.

The Kospi is down around 7.3 per cent so far this year, and up by 3.03 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.

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 85,209,000 shares and, of the total traded issues of 886, the number of advancing shares was 293.

Foreigners were net buyers of 29,192 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 5.62 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per US dollar on April 2, and low is 1,140.4 on July 19.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.04 points to 108.21.

The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.084 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.1 per cent.

REUTERS