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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 rises
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For the midday report, please click SEOUL, March 17 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose on Friday as rescue measures helped ease investor worries about global banking turmoil, ending the turbulent week with a marginal gain.
** The Korean won strengthened and posted the best week in
two months, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 17.78 points, or
0.75%, at 2,395.69. It ended the week 0.05% higher, rebounding
from a more-than-two-month low hit earlier the week.
** The finance-major index rose 0.80% and the
securities-minor index climbed 0.89%. However, they
ended the week down 2% and 2.81%, respectively.
** Large U.S. banks injected $30 billion in deposits into
First Republic Bank on Thursday, swooping in to rescue
the lender caught up in a widening crisis triggered by the
collapse of two other mid-sized U.S. lenders over the past week.
** "Market expectations on U.S. monetary policy stabilised
from recent days' sharp changes," said Lee Kyoung-min, an
analyst at Daishin Securities.
** Leading the gains, chipmaker Samsung Electronics rose 2.34% and peer SK Hynix jumped
6.33%.
** Battery maker LG Energy Solution slumped
3.99% and parent LG Chem ended down 3.84%. Peers
Samsung SDI and SK Innovation fell 2.44%
and 0.80%, respectively.
** Of the total 933 issues traded, 674 shares advanced.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 76.1 billion
won ($58.33 million).
** The won ended onshore trade at 1,302.2 per dollar, 0.83% higher than its previous close at 1,313.0.
** For the week, the won strengthened 1.69% against the
dollar, the best weekly performance in two months.
** In money and debt markets, March futures on three-year
treasury bonds ended unchanged at 104.46.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield
rose by 1.5 basis points to 3.407%, while the benchmark 10-year
yield inched up 0.6 basis points to 3.398%.
($1 = 1,304.6500 won)
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
