Seoul: Stocks gain; foreigners sell for 9th session

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Tuesday, snapping a five-session losing streak, but gains were capped owing to global uncertainties. The Korean won inched up while bond yields also rose.

The country's top economic and financial authorities vowed to take measures to stabilise the markets. South Korea's Financial Services Commission said in a statement that it will closely monitor market movement and global money flows.

Foreigners were net sellers of Kospi shares for the ninth day in a row, the longest since January, 2016. Foreigners have net sold stocks worth 2.11 trillion won over the last nine sessions.

However, local institutions including the National Pension Service were net buyers to the tune of 526,118 million won worth of shares.

The Kospi ended 18.64 points or 0.93 per cent higher at 2,014.69.

South Korea's leading chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, ended 2.3 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively, after Washington restricted exports to Chinese chipmaker Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit.

South Korea's cosmetics firm Amorepacific Corp closed 2.2 percent lower, extending the fall after losing 14.7 percent in the previous session. The company posted a 24.3 per cent plunge in the third-quarter operating profit on Monday and shares hit their lowest intraday trading level since June 2014.

The won was quoted at 1,139.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.19 percent firmer than its previous close at 1,141.4.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,139.24 per US dollar, up 0.31 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,120.55 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.31 per cent even though U.S. stocks ended the previous session with losses. Japanese stocks rose 1.45 percent.

The Kospi is down around 19.1 per cent so far this year, and down by 12.79 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 434,359,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 900, the number of advancing shares was 569.

Foreigners were net sellers of 186,537 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 6.83 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2, 2018 and low is 1,146.26 on Oct 11, 2018.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.15 points to 108.81.

The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.7 per cent while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 1.929 per cent, higher than the previous day's 1.90 percent.

REUTERS