South Korean shares hit over 29-month high, Samsung Electronics shines
KOSPI rises, foreigners net buyers
Korean won strengthens against dollar
South Korea benchmark bond yield falls
For the midday report, please click nL1N3IW00Z
SEOUL, July 4 (Reuters) -Round-up of South Korean financial markets:
** South Korean shares hit their highest level on Thursday in more than 29 months as chipmaker Samsung Electronics jumped ahead of its second-quarter earnings, while auto and financial stocks firmed on policy measures to encourage higher dividend payouts.
** The benchmark KOSPI .KS11 closed up 30.93 points, or 1.11%, at 2,824.94, its highest level since Jan. 21, 2022.
** Samsung Electronics 005930.KS rose 3.42%, a day ahead of its preliminary earnings announcement for the second quarter. The chipmaker is expected to post a 13-fold increase in profit on rising demand for artificial intelligence technology.
** SK Hynix 000660.KS, which supplies high-end chips to Nvidia NVDA.O, fell 2.54%, despite the U.S. chipmaker's 4.6% jump overnight.
** There was a local media report that Samsung's high-end chips passed Nvidia's test for use, but Samsung said the report was inaccurate.
** "If Samsung gets to supply high bandwidth memory chips to Nvidia, that will bring down SK Hynix from its status of exclusive supplier," said Park Kwang-nam, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
** Among sub-indexes, the finance-major index .KS49 gained 1.80%, the securities-minor index .KS53 climbed 3.21% and the insurance index .KS54 jumped 2.21%, while the transport equipment index .KS42 rose 1.20%.
** Auto and financial stocks have been cited as those which have the potential to pay more dividends to shareholders, which the government seeks to boost with tax exemptions.
** South Korea should try to address the country's high cost of living through structural reforms instead of relying on the central bank to fight it, a Bank of Korea official said.
** Foreigners were net buyers of shares worth 321.6 billion won ($232.90 million).
** The won was quoted at 1,380.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform KRW=KFTC, 0.39% higher than its previous close at 1,385.8.
** The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 3.8 basis points to 3.125%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 4.9 bps to 3.230%.
($1 = 1,380.8500 won)
Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Sohini Goswami
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