Seoul: Stocks fall; won extends gain

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index closed lower on Friday as foreigners sold stocks of semiconductor producers. South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ended down 2.2 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. The won rose while bond yields fell.

At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI closed down 12.36 points or 0.52 per cent at 2,343.07. The benchmark index inched up 0.2 per cent on a weekly basis, extending its gain into a third week.

Shares of Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) plunged 29.8 per cent on its close after it lost its bid for a US Air Force training jet to Boeing. Hanwha Aerospace also closed 11.5 per cent lower.

The won was quoted at 1,109.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.29 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,112.5, extending its gain to a sixth consecutive session. For the week, the currency won edged up 0.5 per cent.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,109.23 per US dollar, up 0.41 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,092.7 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.01 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.36 per cent.

The KOSPI is down around 4.5 per cent so far this year, and up by 3.18 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 311,831,000 shares and, of the total 897 traded issues, the number of advancing shares was 355.

Foreigners were net sellers of 211,837 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 4.02 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2 and the low is 1,140.4 on July 19.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.01 points to 108.37.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.003 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.01 per cent.

REUTERS