South Korea stocks flat on hopes of no further trade war escalation

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares were nearly flat on Tuesday, as investors hoped that the trade conflict between the United States and China would not worsen further. The Korean won and the benchmark bond yield fell.

** China has lodged a complaint against the United States at the World Trade Organization over U.S. import duties, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Monday.

** As of 0217 GMT, the Seoul stock market's main KOSPI fell 0.42 points, or 0.02%, to 1,968.77.

** Despite the lingering uncertainties around the trade spat, the markets have already braced for it and expect that the U.S.-China conflict would not worsen further, said Lee Young-gon, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment.

** Shares of Asiana Airlines and its affiliates jumped, as a preliminary bid for the carrier by its top shareholder Kumho Industrial is due to close.

** Shares of Aekyung Industrial gained more than 4% as Aekyung Group said it would participate in preliminary bidding for a stake in Asiana Airlines.

** Foreigners were net sellers of 53.7 billion won ($44.28 million) worth of shares on the main board, while local institutions were net buyers of 92.5 billion won worth of KOSPI shares.

** The won was quoted at 1,214.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.30% lower than its previous close at 1,210.8.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,214.0 per U.S. dollar, down 0.0% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,212.9 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.09%, after U.S. stocks were closed for holiday. Japanese stocks rose 0.15%.

** The KOSPI has fallen 3.24% so far this year, and lost 6.0% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

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

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 139.23 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 883, the number of advancing shares was 527.

** The won has lost 8.1% against the U.S dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.01 points to 110.97, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.49%.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.0 basis points to 1.224%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 1.8 basis points to 1.330%.