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KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
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Korean won strengthens against dollar
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South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
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For the midday report, please click SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean
financial markets:
** South Korean shares closed higher on Thursday, led by
heavyweight chipmakers, as the country's central bank held
interest rates steady and suggested that the monetary tightening
campaign had ended, unless there was a spike in inflation.
** The Korean won strengthened, while the benchmark bond
yield fell.
** The benchmark KOSPI ended 21.41 points, or 0.80%,
higher at 2,439.09, after rising as much as 1.32%.
** The Bank of Korea said the monetary tightening campaign
it began 18 months ago would not resume if inflation followed an
expected path towards moderation.
** "But, the benchmark index erased some of early gains
after the governor's hawkish comments that the decision did not
imply the end of the tightening cycle and that more board
members saw a higher terminal rate," said Lee Kyoung-min, an
analyst at Daishin Securities.
** Nearly all Fed policymakers rallied behind a decision to
further slow the pace of interest rate hikes at the U.S. central
bank's last policy meeting, its minutes showed overnight.
** Chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 1.47% and
peer SK Hynix gained 4.04%, helped by Nvidia's comment on increasing demand for chips thanks
artificial intelligence (AI) services.
** Of the total 936 issues traded, 511 shares advanced.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 11.8 billion
won ($9.10 million).
** The won ended onshore trade 0.60% higher at
1,297.1 per dollar, after gaining as much as 0.83%.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds rose 0.09 point to 103.75.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
fell by 5.1 basis points to 3.605%, while the benchmark 10-year
yield fell by 3.4 basis points to 3.612%.
($1 = 1,296.6100 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; editing by Uttaresh.V)
