South Korea: Stocks rise on Tuesday

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Tuesday as sentiment improved after US senators struck a deal to end a three-day government shutdown. The Korean won was steady while and bond yields rose.

At 02:27 GMT, the Kospi was up 21.85 points or 0.87 per cent at 2,523.96.

Shares of LG Electronics recovered to trade just 2.29 per cent down having earlier dropped as much as 5 per cent on a US decision to slap tariffs on imported washing machines. Shares of Samsung Electronics were up 0.7 per cent compared to previous close.

The won was quoted at 1,069.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.02 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,070.1.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,070.2 per US dollar, down 0.15 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,060.05 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.46 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with mild gains. Japanese stocks rose 0.92 per cent.

The Kospi is up around 1.4 per cent so far this year, and up by 1.12 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 market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 176,931,000 shares, and of the total 882 traded issues 498 had gained.

Foreigners were net sellers of 19,857 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 0.36 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,056.67 per dollar on January 14, 2018 and low is 1,073.2 on January 11, 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to107.68.

REUTERS