South Korea stocks ease off 7-week high on caution ahead of Fed meeting

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares closed lower on Monday after touching their highest in nearly seven weeks earlier, as investors booked profits ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting later in the week. The won ended flat, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The KOSPI closed down 8.57 points, or 0.28%, at 3,001.66, after gaining as much as 1.12% in early trade to its highest since Oct. 27 on upbeat trade data.

** The country reported a 20.4% jump in exports for the first 10 days of December.

** Meanwhile, the finance minister said South Korea would begin preparations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trading bloc.

** Among heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.13%, while platform company Naver and biopharmaceutical firm Samsung Biologics dropped 1.14% and 3.22%, respectively.

** On the main KOSPI board, foreigners sold net 136.9 billion won ($115.89 million) worth of shares.

** Caution ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting led investors to book profits, said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.

** The benchmark index ended lower for a second straight day following a seven-day rally.

** The won ended at 1,180.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, nearly unchanged from its previous close.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,181.3 per dollar, unchanged from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,181.2.

** In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.08 point to 109.15.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.2 basis points to 1.794%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 3.4 basis points to 2.168%.