South Korean stocks slip for sixth day as chip shares dive

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares slipped for a sixth straight session on Thursday as foreign investors offloaded heavyweight chip stocks Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The benchmark KOSPI fell 12.37 points, or 0.38%, to 3,208.25 as of 0631 GMT.

** Technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 1.91% and peer SK Hynix tumbled 4.74%. Naver fell 1.01%, while LG Chem rose 3.17%.

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** Losses were concentrated on Samsung Elec and SK Hynix, which dragged down the index, even as soft US inflation data helped to provide some relief from concerns about an early tapering, said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugenee Investment & Securities.

** Foreigners were net sellers of 1,967.9 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,161.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.41% lower than its previous close at 1,156.4.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,161.1 per dollar, down 0.6% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,161.2.

** The KOSPI has risen 11.65% this year, but has lost 2.3% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 634.47 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 918, the number of advancing shares was 404.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell 0.8 basis points to 1.411%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell 1.2 basis points to 1.922%.