S Korea stocks fall on year-end profit taking, virus scare

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets: South Korean shares fell on Monday as uncertainty around the Omicron COVID-19 variant sullied risk sentiment and investors booked profits before the year-end following a rally last week. The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield was unchanged.

The benchmark KOSPI fell 12.88 points, or 0.43%, to 2,999.55 as of 06:32.

Daishin Securities analyst Lee Kyoung-min said some retail investors are seen selling shares before the year ends to avoid certain capital gains taxes and other levies slapped on large shareholders. A surge in COVID-19 cases globally is also hurting investor sentiment, he added.

Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.37% and peer SK Hynix fell 1.56%, while LG Chem rose 0.97% and Naver fell 0.91%.

Foreigners were net buyers of 43.4 billion won worth of shares on the main board.

The won was quoted at 1,186.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.02% lower than its previous close at 1,186.6.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,186.5 per dollar, down 0.0% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,186.8.

The KOSPI has risen 4.39% so far this year and gained 1.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 462.90 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 446.

The won has lost 8.5% against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.05 points to 109.12.

The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 2.3 basis points to 1.779%, while the benchmark 10-year yield was flat at 2.210%.