South Korean stocks drop ahead of U.S.-China trade talks; IT sector down

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korea's KOSPI stock index weakened on Monday as the market cautiously awaited the outcome of the U.S.-China trade talks. The Korean won was steady, while bond yields fell.

** At 0151 GMT, the KOSPI was down 9.08 points or 0.42 percent at 2,167.97.

** IT sector was broadly down, with Samsung Electronics  falling 0.9 percent and SK Hynix dropping 0.7 percent.    ** The won was quoted at 1,123.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.04 percent firmer than its previous close at 1,123.9.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,123.71 per U.S. dollar, down 0.02 percent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,107.9 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  was down 0.25 percent, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild gains.

** The KOSPI climbed 6.7 percent so far this year, and rose 5.68 percent in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** 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 190.42 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 893, the number of advancing shares was 293.

** Foreigners were net sellers of 69.67 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The U.S dollar rose 0.94 percent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,108.67 per dollar on Jan. 31, 2019 and low is 1,133.4 on Jan. 21, 2019.

** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.02 points to 109.37.

** The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.86 percent, while the most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 1.779 percent, lower than 1.788 percent quoted in the previous session.