South Korea: Stocks, won edge up on positive sentiment after US jobs data

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index and the won rose on Monday on positive investor sentiment following favourable US jobs data on Friday. South Korean bond yields also rose.

At 02.04 GMT, the Kospi was up 14.62 points or 0.64 per cent at 2,287.49.

Shares of South Korean steel producers plunged as EU countries voted on Thursday in favour of provisional measures proposed by the European Commission to curb steel imports into the bloc, following a US decision to slap tariffs on EU steel and aluminium.

While the sub-index for iron, steel and metals tumbled 2.4 per cent, Posco and Hyundai Steel slid 3.2 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.

The won was quoted at 1,111.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.37 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,115.9. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,111.8 per US dollar, up 0.27 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being asked at 1,094.85 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1.15 per cent, after US stocks ended the previous session with gains. Japanese stocks rose 1.27 per cent.

The Kospi is down around 7.9 per cent so far this year, and down by 8.05 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 143,165,000 shares and, of the total 881 traded issues, the number of advancing shares was 333.

Foreigners were net sellers of 5,460 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 4.27 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 1,125.17 on June 27 2018.

In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.02 points to 108.12.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.65 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.114 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.11 per cent.

REUTERS