Seoul: Stocks snap 4-day losing streak; won gains

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index rebounded on Tuesday after a four-day decline as trade worries eased over US President Donald Trump's plan to impose heavy tariffs on steel products and vehicles. The Korean won and bond yields also rose.

With market sentiment revived, investors' appetite for major tech shares heightened. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ended 4 per cent higher and closed up 5.2 per cent, respectively. At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was up 36.35 points or 1.53 per cent at 2,411.41.

The won was quoted at 1,076.1 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.55 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,082.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,075.18 per US dollar, up 0.1 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,065.35 per dollar. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.50 per cent, after US stocks ended higher in the previous session . Japanese stocks rose 1.79 per cent.

The KOSPI dropped around 3.7 per cent so far this year, and is down by 5.58 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 395,970,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 885, the number of advancing shares were 522. Foreigners were net buyers of 13,211 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 0.83 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 1,098.4 on Feb 6, 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds dipped 0.02 points to 107.65. 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 2.314 per cent, higher than 2.31 per cent in the previous session.

REUTERS