South Korea stocks fall as trade tensions dampen risk appetite; won slips

Seoul: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korea's KOSPI stock index  fell on Wednesday as China-U.S. trade tensions escalated, driving investors away from risk-assets. The Korean won weakened, and the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI fell 10.80 points or 0.50 percent to 2,166.19 as of 0149 GMT.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 16.4 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington for two days of trade talks this week, setting up a last-ditch bid for a deal that would avoid a sharp increase in tariffs on Chinese goods ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

** The won was quoted at 1,171.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.42 percent lower than its previous close at 1,166.5.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,170.7 per U.S. dollar, up 0.1 percent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,169.0 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.61 percent, after U.S. stocks fell . Japanese stocks shed 1.56 percent.

** The KOSPI has risen 6.13 percent so far this year, and fallen 0.5 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 224.16 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 890, the number of advancing shares was 273.

** The won has lost 4.8 percent against the U.S dollar this year.

** In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.03 points to 109.53, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.84 percent.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell 0.8 basis points to 1.715 percent, while the benchmark 10-year yield lost 1.1 basis points to 1.874 percent.