South Korean stocks dip on virus mutation fears, fresh distancing measures

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean shares fell on Tuesday as a new strain of the coronavirus in the UK and fresh social distancing restrictions at home hurt sentiment. The Korean won weakened and the benchmark bond yield fell.

By 0145 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI was down 13.54 points, or 0.49%, at 2,765.11.

South Korea moved to shut down all ski resorts and winter tourist spots to curb a third wave of COVID-19 cases in the capital city.

Meanwhile, several countries closed their borders to Britain over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain.

South Korean chat app operator Kakao Corp and the country's biggest search engine operator Naver, jumped 2% and 1.6%, respectively, while heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix declined.

South Korean shares are joining a global decline on virus mutation fears, and tech shares such as Naver and Kakao are rising on higher demand for contactless services, Hana Financial Investment's analyst Lee Jae-sun said.

Foreigners were net sellers of 38.9 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,105.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, down 0.23%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.48%.

The KOSPI has risen 25.82% so far this year, and gained 13.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.1 basis point to 0.959%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.1 basis point to 1.678%.