[SEOUL] South Korea's Kospi stock index ended flat on Friday due to offtake by institutions for profit taking, following a sharp rise of major stocks a day earlier. The South Korean won weakened, while the benchmark bond yield rose. The Seoul stock market's main Kospi ended up 2.07 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 2,186.95 points. For the week, the main index gained 0.50 per cent.
The largest Kospi stock ended up 4.1 per cent a day earlier, its biggest rise since November last year. In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,129.9 per US dollar, down 0.2 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forward trading its one-month contract was quoted at 1,127.8 per dollar.
The Kospi has risen 7.15 per cent so far this year, and fell 0.8 per cent in the previous 30 trading sessions.