Seoul: Stocks rise over 1%; won holds steady

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index rose more than 1 per cent on Thursday, supported by heavy bargain-hunting, while the won held steady on the local platform and bond yields rose. At 0632 GMT, the KOSPI was up 29.46 points or 1.22 per cent at 2,437.52.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 3.9 per cent on high expectations of robust first-quarter earnings. The company's earnings guidance for the March quarter will be released on Friday.

The won was quoted at 1,059.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.01 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,059.8. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,059.27 per US dollar, down 0.19 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,044.35 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.54 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.53 per cent.

The KOSPI is down around 2.4 per cent so far this year, and has risen 0.29 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 was 574,657,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 888, the number of advancing shares was 473.

Foreigners were net buyers of 72,002 million won worth of shares. The US dollar has fallen 0.67 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on Apr 2 and the low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.04 points to 107.85. The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.176 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.17 per cent.

REUTERS