South Korean stocks end higher on trade truce hopes

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets:

** South Korean shares inched up on Friday on trade truce hopes, but concerns around a positive outcome from the talks trimmed early gains. The won and the benchmark bond yield rose.

** Global equity markets cheered the news that the two countries will hold high-level talks early in October to end the long, bitter trade conflict that has roiled financial markets and sparked recession fears.

** The markets climbed in early trade as favourable atmosphere continued, but caution rose that the negotiation might not lead to a positive outcome, said Ha In-hwan, an analyst at Meritz Securities.

** The KOSPI ended up 4.38 points, or 0.22%, at 2,009.13. For the week, the benchmark index added 2.1%, the most since early April.

** Foreigners were net buyers of 47.4 billion won ($39.62 million) worth of shares on the main board.

** The won was quoted at 1,196.9 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.28% higher than its previous close at 1,200.2.

** The currency gained 1.2% from a week ago, posting the sharpest rise since late-June.

** In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,196.5 per U.S. dollar, up 0.1% from the previous day, while in non-deliverable forward trading, its one-month contract  was quoted at 1,195.3 per dollar.

** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan  was up 0.39%, following a surge in U.S. stocks . Japanese stocks, meanwhile, rose 0.54%.

** The KOSPI has fallen 1.56% so far this year, and lost 3.7% 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.

** The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index  was 377.59 million shares and, of the total traded issues of 890, the number of advancing shares was 307.

** The won has lost 6.8% against the U.S dollar so far this year.

** In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds fell 0.02 points to 110.85, while the 3-month Certificate of Deposit rate was quoted at 1.53%.

** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.4 basis points to 1.268%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 1.7 basis points to 1.389%.