South Korean shares set for weekly fall on Mideast uncertainty

SEOUL: Round-up of South Korean financial markets: South Korean shares fell more than 3% on Friday and were set to end the week lower on heightened uncertainty over the military conflict in the Middle East. The benchmark KOSPI was down 168. 42 points, or 3. 08%, at 5, 292. 04, as of 0229 GMT. The index has fallen 8. 3% so far this week, after rising 5. 4% last week. US President Donald Trump said he would extend a pause on attacks against Iran’s energy plants into April and that talks with Iran were going “very well, ” but an Iranian official said a US proposal for ending the war as “one-sided and unfair. ” South Korea began enforcing a ban on naphtha exports from midnight on Thursday as it moved to shore up domestic supplies amid disruptions caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 4% and peer SK Hynix lost 4. 07%, after Google earlier this week unveiled a new compression algorithm, TurboQuant, which it said allows AI systems to use much less memory without hurting performance. Among other index heavyweights, battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 0. 98%, while Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 2. 65% and 1. 62%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 2. 04%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0. 19%. Of the total 925 traded issues, 178 shares advanced, while 724 declined. Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 2. 2 trillion won ($1. 46 billion). The won was quoted at 1, 504. 8 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0. 21% higher than its previous close at 1, 508. 0. The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 2. 0 basis points to 3. 571%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 2. 3 basis points to 3. 893%. ‐Reuters

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