South Korean stocks end little changed on prospects of Fed taper delay

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares closed almost unchanged on Monday, as investors remained cautious after long-awaited US payrolls data threw doubt on tapering of the Federal Reserve's bond purchase programme. The won ended flat, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The benchmark KOSPI ended 2.27 points, or 0.07%, higher at 3,203.33.

** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.91% and peer SK Hynix fell 0.93%, while LG Chem rose 3.45% and Naver rose 0.33%.

** Investors are assessing the fallout from the September payrolls report, which showed a much smaller increase in jobs than expected but also a pick up in wages.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 63.9 billion won ($55.30 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** The won ended at 1,156.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.04% higher than its previous close at 1,157.0.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,155.7 per dollar, down 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,156.1.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.06 points to 110.33.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.5 basis points to 1.463%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 3.0 basis points to 1.973%.