Seoul: Stocks snap 3-day gaining streak on weak Q1 GDP

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index fell on Tuesday, snapping its three-day gaining streak, as revised first quarter GDP data, which shrank more than initially estimated, weighed on sentiment. The Korean won weakened, and the benchmark bond yield fell.

The Seoul stock market's main Kospi fell 0.88 point or 0.04 per cent to 2,066.97. Foreigners were net sellers of 199.0 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

South Korea's gross domestic product contracted by a seasonally adjusted 0.4 per cent in the January-March period from the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea's revised data showed, a notch faster than a 0.3 per cent decline estimated earlier.

The won was quoted at 1,182.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.06 per cent lower than its previous close at 1,182.1. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,182.5 per US dollar, down 0.3 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,181.2 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.43 per cent, after US stocks closed mixed. Japanese stocks fell 0.01 per cent.

The Kospi has risen 1.27 per cent so far this year, but lost 6.6 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 428.18 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 893, the number of advancing shares was 529.

The won has lost 5.7 per cent against the US dollar so far this year. In money and debt markets, the three-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.82 per cent.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.3 basis points to 1.572 per cent, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.4 basis point to 1.687 per cent.

REUTERS