Seoul: Stocks, won edge up on weaker-than-expected US inflation

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index and the won both ended higher as soft US inflation saw the dollar easing in global markets. At 0632 GMT, the KOSPI was up 13.53 points or 0.55 per cent at 2,477.69. The benchmark stock index rose 0.7 per cent on a weekly basis.

The won was quoted at 1,069.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.36 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,073.1. For the week, the currency gained 0.7 per cent, the biggest weekly per centage gain in three weeks.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,068.28 per US dollar, down 0.34 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,051.7 per dollar. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.78 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.16 per cent.

The KOSPI is down around 0.1 per cent so far this year, and up by 0.49 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 591,081,000 shares and, of the total traded issues of 885, the number of advancing shares was 618. ** Foreigners were net buyers of 200,246 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 0.22 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2 2018 and the low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6, 2018. In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.02 points to 107.53. 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 2.288 per cent, up from the previous day's 2.28 per cent.

REUTERS