South Korea stocks set for worst week since onset of pandemic

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares rose on Friday, but were poised for the sharpest weekly drop in nearly two years as investors were rattled by the US Federal Reserve's pivot to policy tightening and rate hikes and a resurgence of local COVID-19 cases.

** The Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

** The benchmark KOSPI was up 1.40%, or 36.55 points, at 2,650.89, as of 0301 GMT. For the week, the index slumped 6.4% so far, the sharpest loss since mid-March 2020.

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** Among the heavyweights, technology giant Samsung Electronics rose 3.09% and peer SK Hynix climbed 6.61%, while LG Chem advanced 3.93% and Naver gained 1.98%.

** South Korea reported 16,096 new coronavirus cases for Thursday, another daily record after posting 14,518 a day before, amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.

** Foreigners were net sellers of 492.8 billion won ($409.03 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,204.8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.17% lower than its previous close at 1,202.8.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,204.7 per dollar, down 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,205.5.

** The KOSPI lost 10.97% so far this year, but down 12.5% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

** The trading volume during the session in the KOSPI index was 253.89 million shares. Of the total traded issues of 931, the number of advancing shares was 798.

** The won weakened 1.3% against the dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.07 points to 107.93.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.4 basis points to 2.203%, while the benchmark 10-year yield dropped 1.2 basis points to 2.600%.