South Korean won pares early gains as President Yoon refuses to step down

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

The South Korean won pared early gains on Thursday morning as political turmoil continued after President Yoon Suk Yeol refused to step down amid parliament’s push to impeach him.

The won was unchanged from its previous closing price of 1,430.9 as of 1252 GMT in the onshore market.

The benchmark KOSPI was up 13.95 points, or 0.57%, at 2,456.46 as of 00:48 GMT.

President Yoon said he will fight until the last moment with the public amid the opposition’s moves to impeach him.

Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 0.56% and peer SK Hynix gained 1.40%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0.13%.

Hyundai Motor added 0.96% and sister automaker Kia Corp gained 1.66%, while search engine Naver and instant messenger Kakao were down 1.83% and up 0.67%, respectively.

South Korean stocks close higher for second session

Of the total 933 traded issues, 530 shares advanced, while 352 declined.

Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 136.8 billion won on the main board on Thursday.

The won rose as much as 0.1% to 1,428.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform before paring gains.

In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,430.0 per dollar, down 0.2%, while in non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,428.0.

The KOSPI has fallen 7.49% so far this year, and lost 5.8% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

The won has lost 9.9% against the dollar so far this year.

In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.03 point to 106.74.

The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.9 basis points to 2.544%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 0.5 bps to 2.695%.