July 03, 2024 at 02:57 am EDT
* KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
* Korean won weakens against dollar
* South Korea benchmark bond yield little changed
SEOUL (Reuters) - Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares rose on Wednesday, after the government unveiled detailed tax measures aimed at encouraging firms to join its corporate reform push with higher dividend payouts to shareholders.
** The benchmark KOSPI closed up 13.15 points, or 0.47%, at 2,794.01.
** The government said it would offer tax exemptions on corporate income for increases in capital returns to shareholders and introduce separate taxes on shareholders' dividend income at lower rates than other financial income.
** They are follow-up measures to the government's "Corporate Value-up Programme", which aims to boost the domestic stock market with policy measures encouraging higher shareholder returns by listed companies.
** The Finance-major index rose 1.05%, and the Securities-minor index climbed 1.82%, becoming the biggest gainers among sectors.
** "Financial stocks have higher potential to raise dividends than other sectors, even without the policy drive, given their stronger cash flows," said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment Securities.
** Still, there remains uncertainty over whether the government's tax cut plans will be approved by the parliament, analysts said.
** South Korea's finance ministry raised its forecast for this year's economic growth to 2.6%, from 2.2% seen previously, citing strong semiconductor exports.
** Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 4.22%, while peers Samsung SDI and SK Innovation added 4.27% and 1.97%, respectively, after U.S. electric-vehicle maker Tesla jumped 10.2% overnight on a smaller-than-expected drop in vehicle deliveries.
** Of the total 932 traded issues, 271 shares advanced, while 589 declined.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 88.7 billion won ($63.79 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,390.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.27% lower than its previous close at 1,386.9.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.5 basis point to 3.165%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 0.6 bp to 3.278%. ($1 = 1,390.4800 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee and Youn Ah Moon; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

Sumber : Reuters