South Korea stocks mark lowest close in nearly two months on Omicron worries

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares closed at their lowest in nearly two months on Monday, as worries about the Omicron coronavirus variant and its impact on the global economy sparked a sell-off. The won closed flat, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The benchmark KOSPI ended down 27.12 points, or 0.92%, at 2,909.32, the lowest close since Oct. 6. It tumbled as much as 1.55% in early trade to hit its lowest level since Jan. 4.

** The Omicron variant spread around the world, with new cases found in the Netherlands, Denmark and Australia even as more countries imposed travel restrictions.

** At home, South Korea reported 3,309 new coronavirus cases for Sunday, but no variant cases have been reported so far.

** The global spread of the new variant may impact the country's strong run of exports growth. South Korean exports likely grew for a 13th straight month in November, according to a Reuters poll.

** Among heavyweights, chip giant Samsung Electronics ended flat, while battery maker LG Chem and platform company Naver fell 1.25% and 0.77%, respectively.

** On the main board, foreigners were net buyers of 38.7 billion won ($32.45 million) worth of shares.

** While the coronavirus variant lacks detailed data, traders are highly cautious over the strain's spread, global economy and possibility of worsening supply chain bottleneck, said Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min.

** The won ended at 1,193.0 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, nearly unchanged from its previous close.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,192.9, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,193.2.

** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.10 point to 108.98.

** The benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.7 basis points to 2.270%.