Seoul: Stocks snap 13-session winning streak

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index closed lower on Wednesday to snap a 13-session winning streak as investors shrugged off upbeat data from China. The South Korean won saw modest gains, while the benchmark bond yield also climbed.

The Seoul stock market's main Kospi ended down 2.74 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 2,245.89 points.

As market consensus on Korean firms' profits are being cut sharply, Kospi lacks internal power to drive its rebound, said Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities.

China's economy grew at a steady 6.4 per cent pace in the first quarter, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production jumped sharply and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.

Foreigners were net buyers of 75.6 billion won worth of shares on the main board, while local institutions and individuals were net sellers of stocks worth 1.1 billion won and 59.6 billion won, respectively.

The won was quoted at 1,134.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.08 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,135.7.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,134.8 per US dollar, up 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,133.7 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.10 per cent after US stocks ended higher. Japanese stocks rose 0.25 per cent.

The Kospi rose 10.04 per cent so far this year, and climbed 3.2 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 capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 445.95 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 895, the number of advancing shares was 470.

The won lost 1.7 per cent against the US dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.05 point to 109.34, while the three-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.86 per cent.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.6 basis points to 1.781 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2.2 basis points to 1.954 per cent.

REUTERS