South Korean shares track Wall Street lower, set for weekly loss

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean stocks gain on US Fed comments

• South Korean shares fell on Friday, tracking Wall Street’s losses overnight on hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

• The benchmark KOSPI fell 13.69 points, or 0.50%, to 2,728.31 by 0104 GMT. For the week, the KOSPI was down 0.7%.

• Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Thursday that no interest rate cut may be required by the end of the year, if inflation continues to stall.

• Samsung Electronics fell 0.82%, even as the world’s largest memory chip maker estimated a more than 10-fold rise in its first-quarter profit. Peer SK Hynix lost 0.90%.

• Most other index heavyweights also declined, while automakers were flat.

• Hanwha Aerospace dropped 6.99% after its announcement to spin off industrial solutions and semiconductor equipment businesses from its flagship defence division.

• Of the total 927 traded issues, 310 shares advanced, while 540 declined. ** Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 44.2 billion won ($32.75 million) on the main board.

• The won was quoted at 1,349.5 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.18% lower than its previous close at 1,347.1.

• In money and debt markets, June futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.04 point to 104.76.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 1.1 basis points to 3.328%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 2.2 basis points to 3.434%.