South Korean stocks gain, won weakens

South Korean stocks were marginally higher on Tuesday, while the Korean won edged down on the local platform while bond yields climbed.

At 01:18 GMT, the KOSPI was up 7.61 points or 0.30 per cent at 2,520.89.

The won was quoted at 1,067.7 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.16 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,066, reports Reuters.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,068.2 per US dollar, down 0.03 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it fetched 1,059.85 per dollar.

The KOSPI is up around 1.9 per cent so far this year, and up by 1.07 per cent in the previous 30 days.

The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 per cent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.

The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index was 129,094,000 shares, and of the total traded issues of 879, the number of advancing shares was 392.

Foreigners were net buyers of 82,615 million won worth of shares.

The dollar has risen 0.17 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,059 per dollar on January 8, 2018 and low is 1,069.7 on January 8 2018.

In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.04 points to 107.86.

The Korean 3-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.66 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 2.151 per cent, higher than the previous day's 2.14 per cent.