South Korean stocks end flat on caution over exports, Q2 earnings

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares ended flat on Monday, after trading in a narrow range, as investors were cautious about sluggish exports and trends emerging from corporate earnings. The won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose.

** The Seoul stock market's main KOSPI index closed down 1.02 points or 0.05% at 2,093.34.

** South Korea's exports for the first 20 days of this month fell a sharp 13.6% from a year earlier, customs data showed, led by poor semiconductor shipments and underscoring continued weakness in global demand.

** Hyundai Motor posted its steepest quarterly net profit gain in over seven years, as a weaker local currency helped lift U.S. income, while new models boosted domestic sales. Its shares closed down 1.1%.

** SK Hynix is scheduled to post its second-quarter results on Thursday, while Samsung Electronics is due to announce its earnings on July 31.

** Japan's strategy on trade restrictions against South Korea is expected to stay the same after the upper house election in Japan, said Lee Young-gon, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment. Sluggish trade data also weighed on sentiment though it was in line with expectations, he added.

** Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc won a solid majority in an upper house election on Sunday but his coalition and allies fell short of a two-thirds majority needed to begin revising the pacifist constitution.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 204.6 billion won ($173.62 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,178.3 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.32% lower than its previous close at 1,174.5.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,178.4 per U.S. dollar, down 0.3% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract  was quoted at 1,177.2 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  was down 0.45%, after U.S. stocks closed down on Friday. Japanese stocks fell 0.23%.

** The KOSPI has risen 2.56% so far this year, and gained 1.1% in the previous 30 trading sessions.

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

** Trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index was 314.98 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 894, the number of advancing shares was 320.

** The won has lost 5.3% against the U.S dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.01 points to 110.75, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.59%.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 1.0 basis points to 1.335%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.2 basis points to 1.466%.