Seoul: Stocks rise led by chip shares; won ticks up

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index and the won ended up on Friday, thanks to chipmakers which jumped tracking US tech shares. Bond yields also rose. The Kospi ended up 32.02 points, or 1.40 per cent, at 2,318.25, marking the biggest gain since early March. The benchmark index was up 1.6 per cent on a weekly basis, rebounding from last week.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, top two KOSPI stocks, added 4.1 per cent and 4.3 per cent, respectively, erasing their losses after investment banks issued murky outlook of chip industry. The sub-index for electric and electronics jumped 3.7 per cent.

The won was quoted at 1,116.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.52 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,122.4. For the week, the won gained 0.56 per cent. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,116.62 per US dollar, up 0.29 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,099.5 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.22 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.2 per cent. The Kospi is down around 7.3 per cent so far this year, and up by 0.90 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 283,774,000 and, of the total traded issues of 896, the number of advancing shares was 525. Foreigners were net buyers of 152,788 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 4.71 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per 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 fell 0.12 points to 108.78. The south Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 1.957 per cent, higher than the previous day's 1.92 per cent.

REUTERS