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U.S. Fed pause signals lift Asian stocks, currencies
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KOSPI rises for third session, foreigners net buyers
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Korean won jumps more than 2% against dollar
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South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
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For the midday report, please click SEOUL, March 23 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** The South Korean won rallied on Thursday after the Federal Reserve's meeting that signalled a pause in further rate hikes by the U.S. central bank. Stocks also rose.
** The Korean won ended onshore trade 2.30% higher at 1,278.3 per dollar, after hitting the highest level since Feb. 15 at 1,276.5. It was the best daily performance since Nov. 11.
** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 7.52 points, or
0.31%, at 2,424.48, reversing its early loss of 0.79%. The index
hit the highest since March 8.
** The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised interest rates by
a quarter of a percentage point, but indicated it was on the
verge of pausing further increases in the wake of a global
banking turmoil.
** "The market is seeing no additional room for the Fed to
raise interest rates," said Mirae Asset Securities' analyst Kim
Seok-hwan.
** The Bank of Korea said on Thursday that local financial
firms were facing little contagion risk from troubles at U.S.
and Swiss banks, but some non-bank firms may have to contend
with increased stress from the sluggish property market.
** The finance-major index fell 0.35% and the securities-minor index fell 0.63%.
** South Korea's finance minister said the authorities would
keep closely monitoring the markets and take stabilisation
measures if needed.
** Heavyweight chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix gained 1.96% and 1.84%, respectively,
and led the benchmark stock index higher. Still, they were among
the minority of 224 gainers out of the 932 traded issues.
** Foreigners were net buyers of local shares worth 212.9 billion won ($166.36 million).
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield dropped by 8.8 basis points to 3.202%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 3.3 bps to 3.262%. ($1 = 1,279.7600 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Sohini Goswami)
