Seoul: Stocks extends rally to record high, won falls

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Monday, extending gains after the index closed at a fresh record high in the previous session on strong purchases from foreigners and institutional investors. The Korean won fell while bond yields rose.

At 0142 GMT, the Kospi was up 27.84 points or 1.08 per cent at 2,602.60, after touching a fresh record high of 2,604.05.

The won was quoted at 1,064.8 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.08 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,063.9.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,065.1 per US dollar, down 0.13 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,055.4 per US dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.45 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with gains. Japanese stocks rose 0.47 per cent.

The Kospi is up around 4.3 per cent so far this year, and up by 4.62 per cent in the previous 30 days.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won (S$1.53 trillion).

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 190,015,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 883, the number of advancing shares was 536.

Foreigners were net buyers of 103,953 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has fallen 0.16 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per US dollar on Jan 14, 2018 and low is 1,077.2 on Jan 23, 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.08 points to107.55.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent compared with a previous close of 1.65 per cent.

REUTERS