South Korea: Stocks climb for a third session, won gains

[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index rose on Wednesday, while the won edged up on the local platform and bond yields also climbed.

At 01.29 GMT, the Kospi was up 22.31 points or 0.93 per cent at 2,417.50. The benchmark index was set to rise for a third consecutive session, supported by a rally in tech giant Samsung Electronics' shares.

Foreign investors bargain-hunting, especially in tech sector, is providing the early boost to the market, said Cho Byung Hyun, a stock analyst at Yuanta Securities.

The won was quoted at 1,083.1 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform , 0.13 per cent firmer than its previous close at 1,084.5.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,082.8 per dollar, up 0.15 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it fetched 1,071.7 per dollar.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.45 percent, after US stocks ended the previous day with mild gains in choppy trade. . Japanese stocks weakened 0.19 per cent.

The kospi is down around 2.9 per cent so far this year, and down by 3.41 percent in the previous 30 days.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 percent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session on the Kospi index was 116,271,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 878, the number of advancing shares was 369.

Foreigners were net buyers of 93,753 million won worth of shares.

The US dollar has risen 1.54 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 1,098.4 on February 6 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds held steady at 107.6.

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 2.282 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.28 per cent.

REUTERS