Seoul: Stocks tumble as virus dents recovery hopes

[SEOUL] South Korean shares on Monday tumbled near 2 per cent as investors sought safe assets after a resurgence in global coronavirus cases dented recovery hopes. The Korean won inched up, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

The benchmark Kospi fell 41.17 points or 1.93 per cent to 2,093.48.

The index tracked Wall Street's fall on Friday as some US states including Texas reconsidered their reopening plans.

South Korea's health authorities called on Monday for citizens to stagger vacation schedules and avoid gatherings at workplaces and religious facilities, as coronavirus infections from small clusters persist.

The national tally is near 13,000 cases as of midnight Sunday.

YG Entertainment surged as much as 21 per cent as a new single by the company's girl-band Blackpink broke YouTube's 24-hour viewing record.

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Foreigners were net sellers of 230.40 billion won (S$266.5 million) worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,198.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.17 per cent higher than its previous close at 1,200.6.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,198.5, up 0.4 per cent from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,198.2.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.99 per cent.

The trading volume during the session in the Kospi index was 631.63 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 898, the number of advancing shares was 135.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.03 point to 112.11.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.6 basis points to 0.837 per cent in late afternoon trade, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.2 basis points to 1.359 per cent.

REUTERS