Seoul: Stocks skid over 1%; won ends at more than 1-month low

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index marked further losses on Tuesday. The Korean won closed at its lowest since Dec 27, while bond yields rose.

At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was down 30.40 points or 1.17 per cent at 2,567.79. The index extended losses as investment sentiment was hurt after the greenback gained, tracking higher US bond yields.

The won was quoted at 1,073.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.75 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,065.6. The currency was negatively affected by a slide in stock markets as demand for won among foreign investors declined.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,073.05 per US dollar, down 0.29 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,064.05 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 1.27 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild losses. Japanese stocks weakened 1.43 per cent.

The KOSPI is up around 5.3 per cent so far this year, and up by 4.74 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 389,977,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 884, the number of advancing shares was 312.

Foreigners were net sellers of 175,780 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 0.63 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per dollar on Jan 14 ,2018 and low is 1,077.2 on Jan 23, 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 107.38.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark three-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.303 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.28 per cent.

REUTERS