S.Korea stocks jump 1% as country stops short of toughest virus measures

08/28/2020

    * KOSPI rises, foreigners net sellers
    * Korean won weakens against U.S. dollar
    * South Korea benchmark bond yield rises

    SEOUL, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial
markets:
    
    ** South Korean shares rose on Friday, following gains in
Wall Street and as the country's extension of the current social
distancing measures, instead of a toughening, eased concerns
about further economic fallout from the coronavirus. The Korean
won edged down, while the benchmark bond yield rose.
    
    ** By 0216 GMT, the benchmark KOSPI         rose 26.70
points, or 1.14%, to 2,371.15, fully recovering from a 1.05%
fall in the previous session on worries of surging local
infections.
    
    ** U.S. stocks scaled new peaks for a third straight day as
investors digested the Federal Reserve's new strategy to adopt
an average inflation target and restore the United States to
full employment, as well as a promising development in the fight
to contain the coronavirus pandemic.             
    
    ** South Korean authorities stopped short of shifting the
country up to the highest level of social distancing measures on
Friday, but instead extended the current Phase 2, despite
recording another triple-digit increase in daily new coronavirus
cases.             
    
    ** Foreigners were net sellers of 31.7 billion won ($26.75
million) worth of shares on the main board.
    
    ** The won was quoted at 1,185.2 per dollar on the onshore
settlement platform           , 0.02% weaker than its previous
close at 1,185.0.
    
    ** In offshore trading, the won        was quoted at 1,184.9
per dollar, up 0.2% from the previous day, while in
non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract
              was quoted at 1,184.6.
    
    ** MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside
Japan                 was down 0.14%.
    
    ** In money and debt markets, September futures on
three-year treasury bonds         fell 0.09 points to 111.98.
    
    ** The most liquid 3-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by
3.5 basis points to 0.887%, while the benchmark 10-year yield
rose by 5.1 basis points to 1.472%.

($1 = 1,184.9300 won)

 (Reporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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