Seoul: Stocks rebound from previous losses; won gains

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index rose on Friday. The Korean won rose in the local platform and bond yields rose. At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was up 10.71 points or 0.44 per cent at 2,440.54. The benchmark index dipped to near three-month low on Thursday. For the week, the index dropped 1.7 per cent.

The won was quoted at 1,079.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.28 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,082.7. The currency was buoyed by exporters'heavy dollar-selling reaching the end-month. It gained 0.9 per cent on a weekly basis.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,078.61 per US dollar, up 0.09 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,072.05 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.47 per cent, after US stocks ended their session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 0.16 per cent.

The KOSPI is up around 19.9 per cent so far this year, and down by 4.73 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 221,607,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 878, the number of advancing shares was 531. Foreigners were net buyers of 134,647 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has fallen 10.56 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,075.71 per dollar hit on November 29, 2017 and the low is 1,211.8 struck on January 3, 2017. March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.13 points t o107.93. The South Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was unchanged at 1.66 per cent versus the previous close, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.132 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.09 per cent.

REUTERS