South Korea stocks fall on year-end profit taking, virus scare

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares fell on Monday as uncertainty around the Omicron COVID-19 variant sullied risk sentiment and investors booked profits before the year-end following a rally last week. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield was unchanged.

** The benchmark KOSPI fell 12.88 points, or 0.43%, to 2,999.55 as of 06:32.

** Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min said some retail investors are seen selling shares before the year ends to avoid certain capital gains taxes and other levies slapped on large shareholders. A surge in COVID-19 cases globally is also hurting investor sentiment, he added.

** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.37% and peer SK Hynix fell 1.56%, while LG Chem rose 0.97% and Naver fell 0.91%.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 43.4 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,186.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.02% lower than its previous close at 1,186.6.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,186.5 per dollar, down 0.0% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,186.8.

** The KOSPI has risen 4.39% so far this year and gained 1.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 462.90 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 446.

** The won has lost 8.5% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.05 points to 109.12.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.3 basis points to 1.779%, while the benchmark 10-year yield was flat at 2.210%.