South Korea shares drop as political turmoil continues after President Yoon survives impeachment

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean stocks log second weekly decline as parliament discusses President’s impeachment

• South Korean shares logged the sharpest one-day decline since Nov. 13 on Monday as political turmoil deepened after impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol failed over the weekend. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield fell.

• South Korea’s leadership crisis deepened on Sunday as prosecutors named President Yoon as a subject of a criminal investigation over last week’s martial law attempt, a media report said, and his former defence minister was arrested, a day after he survived an impeachment vote in the opposition-led parliament.

• The benchmark KOSPI was down 41.11 points, or 1.73%, at 2,387.05 as of 0043 GMT, after dropping as much as 2.23% earlier in the session.

• Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 0.55% and peer SK Hynix lost 0.12%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.38%.

• South Korea’s finance ministry and regulators said on Monday they will make all-out efforts to stabilise financial markets by deploying contingency plans announced earlier and preparing fresh measures to improve foreign exchange market liquidity by end-December.

• Hyundai Motor shed 1.23% and sister automaker Kia Corp lost 2.00%, while search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao were down 1.47% and down 1.69%, respectively.

• Of the total 934 traded issues, 65 shares advanced, while 857 declined.

• Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 11 billion won ($7.7 million) on the main board.

• The won was quoted at 1,428.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.39% lower than its previous close at 1,423.0.

• In offshore trading, the won was flat at 1,424.2 per dollar, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,423.4.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 3.2 basis points to 2.644%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.2 bps to 2.756%.