Seoul: Stocks rise on bargain-taking, stabilised yuan

[SEOUL] South Korean shares climbed on early Monday on bargain hunting after the past week's heavy selling, while China's yuan took a pause.

The Korean won and the benchmark bond yield fell.

As of 0215 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main Kospi rose 7.9 points or 0.41 per cent to 1,945.65.

China's yuan opened trade at 7.0599 per US dollar versus last close at 7.0615. Without fresh downside factors, investors were relieved by the yuan, which is not weakening sharply, said Park Sang Hyun, an economist at HI Investment & Securities.

Markets in Japan and Singapore were closed for a holiday.

Foreigners were net buyers of 2.9 billion won (S$3.29 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,216.1 per US dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.46 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,210.5.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,215.7 per US dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,215.3 per US dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.12 per cent, after US stocks ended down on Friday.

The Kospi has fallen 4.86 per cent so far this year, and lost 9.1 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 per cent and the market cap is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 183.22 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 890, the number of advancing shares was 423.

The won has lost 8.3 per cent against the US dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 point to 111.21, while the three-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.49 per cent.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.3 basis points to 1.176 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.8 basis point to 1.281 per cent.

REUTERS