Seoul: Stocks, won rise as exports growth supports sentiment

[SEOUL] South Korea's KOSPI stock index and won rose on Friday, as market sentiment improved thanks to end-month economic exports data that showed robust growth.

At 0630 GMT, the KOSPI was up 15.95 points or 0.66 per cent at 2,438.96. The won was quoted at 1,075 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.25 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,077.7. The currency gained 0.3 per cent, which was the biggest weekly per centage gain since May 11.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,074.3 per US dollar, up 0.49 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,058.05 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.10 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with losses. Japanese stocks weakened 0.14 per cent.

The KOSPI slipped 0.9 per cent on week, and has fallen 3.6 per cent in the previous 30 days. It is down around 1.8 per cent so far this year. 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 596,231,000 shares and, of the total traded issues of 882, the number of advancing shares was 415.

Foreigners were net buyers of 233,576 million won worth of shares. The US dollar has risen 0.74 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2, while the low is 1,098.4 on Feb 6. In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.02 points to 107.9. The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.191 per cent, lower than the previous day's 2.20 per cent.

REUTERS