South Korea's KOSPI stock index fell over 1.0 per cent on Wednesday to a more than one-week low, after US markets tumbled overnight, while the won and bond yields also fell.
At 0132 GMT, the KOSPI was down 17.41 points or 0.82 per cent at 2,096.94. Earlier in the session, it declined as much as 1.3 per cent to its lowest since Nov. 27, reports Reuters.
South Korean stock markets opened lower, in line with Wall Street, which tumbled on the shrinking spread between the 10-year yield and the two-year yield, in addition to lingering uncertainties about trade conflict, according to a report by Mirae Asset Daewoo.
The spread between the 10-year yield over its two-year counterpart shrank to the smallest since the start of the financial crisis in January 2008, signalling to some investors an approaching US economic slowdown.
Leading chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix lost 1.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively, also tracking US chip shares.
The won was quoted at 1,111.4 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.55 per cent weaker than its previous close at 1,105.3.
In offshore trading, the won was quoted at 1,112.1 per US dollar, down 0.14 per cent from the previous day, while in one-year non-deliverable forwards it was being transacted at 1,091.8 per dollar.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.61 per cent.
Japanese stocks weakened 1.14 per cent.
The KOSPI is down around 14.3 per cent so far this year, and up by 0.39 per cent in the previous 30 days.
The current price-to-earnings ratio is 12.10, the dividend yield is 1.28 per cent and the market capitalisation is 1,242.04 trillion won.
The trading volume during the session on the KOSPI index was 156,455,000 shares and, of the total traded issues of 883, the number of advancing shares was 172.
Foreigners were net sellers of 36,325 million won worth of shares.
The US dollar has risen 4.29 per cent against the won this year. The won's high for the year is 1,053.55 per dollar on April 2, 2018 and low is 1,146.26 on Oct. 11, 2018.
In money and debt markets, December futures on three-year treasury bonds rose 0.03 points to 108.93.
The Korean three-month Certificate of Deposit benchmark rate was quoted at 1.9 per cent, while the benchmark 3-year Korean treasury bond yielded 1.909 per cent, lower than the previous day's 1.91 per cent.