South Korean shares end lower, Korea Zinc hits daily lower limit

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

South Korean stocks end higher as battery shares shine on Tesla rally

• South Korean shares fell nearly 1% on Wednesday, dragged down by losses in index heavyweight Samsung Electronics and a plunge in Korea Zinc to the daily lower limit.

• The benchmark KOSPI closed down 24.01 points, or 0.92%, at 2,593.79, snapping a three-session run of gains.

• “Foreign selling of Samsung Electronics and a sharp drop in Korea Zinc led the losses on the benchmark index,” said Seo Sang-young, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

• Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 0.84%, after rising for two straight sessions. Last week, it hit its lowest level in nearly 22 months.

• Korea Zinc fell 29.9% to its daily lower limit, after the world’s top zinc refiner said it planned to issue new stock worth about $1.8 billion just two days after it bought back shares at a higher price.

• Having risen sharply since mid-September on a battle between founding families for a controlling stake, Korea Zinc was the ninth largest company on the KOSPI index by market cap, as of Tuesday.

• Analysts criticised the move to be against shareholder interest, coming at a time when the government is pushing for corporate reforms to boost shareholder value.

• South Korea’s export growth is expected to have slowed for a third straight month in October on signs of cooling global demand for computer chips, a Reuters poll showed. The data will be reported on Friday.

** After that, there will be the US presidential election and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week.

• Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 335.3 billion won ($242.84 million).

• The won was quoted at 1,382.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.01% lower than its previous close at 1,382.2.

• The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2.3 basis points to 2.939%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.9 basis point to 3.111%.