South Korea stocks fall as strong US jobs data triggers taper talks

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares fell on Monday as investors wagered that upbeat US jobs data would move the Federal Reserve closer to pulling back stimulus. The Korean won weakened and the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The benchmark KOSPI fell 9.94 points, or 0.30%, to 3,260.42, as of 0630 GMT.

** Concerns about the strength of a global recovery diminished after upbeat US jobs report data, but investors remained concerned about a hawkish Fed, said Park Kwang-nam, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics traded flat and peer SK Hynix fell 1.69%, while LG Chem rose 0.48% and Naver rose 0.67%.

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** Foreigners were the net sellers of 206.5 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,144.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.19% lower than its previous close at 1,142.1.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,144.3 per dollar, up 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,144.3.

** The KOSPI has risen 13.47% this year, but lost 1% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session was 684.98 million shares in the KOSPI index. Of the total traded issues of 915, the number of advancing shares was 208.

** The won has lost 5.1% against the dollar this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 110.22.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.2 basis points to 1.435%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.6 basis points to 1.895%.