South Korean stocks end weaker; high-level trade talks in focus

[SEOUL]  South Korean shares trimmed early losses on Thursday as fresh reports raised hopes that Washington and Beijing would settle some economic disputes, though investors remained cautious ahead of high-level trade talks set to begin later in the day.

The South Korean benchmark stock index KOSPI ended down 18.10 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 2,028.15. Earlier in the day, the index lost as much as 1.7 per cent, marking its worst intraday trading level since Sept 6.

Foreigners were net sellers of US$137.76 million worth of shares on the main board.

The Korean won slid, while the benchmark bond yields strengthened.

The KOSPI dropped 0.63 per cent so far this year, but gained 4.9 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 438.54 million shares of the total traded issues of 886, and the number of advancing shares was 266.

REUTERS