South Korean stocks rebound from 19-month low on institutional boost

* KOSPI rebounds from 19-month low
* The Korean won was little changed against the US dollar
* South Korea’s benchmark bond yield fell slightly
* For the midday report, please click
SEOUL, June 21 (Reuters) – Overview of South Korea’s financial markets:
** South Korean stocks rebounded on Tuesday to close higher, driven mainly by lower buying by institutional investors after falling sharply to a 19-month low in the previous session. The Korean won weakened slightly, while benchmark bond yields fell slightly.
**The benchmark KOSPI ended up 17.90 points, or 0.75%, at 2,408.93, after hitting its lowest since early November 2020 on Monday.
**Institutional buying led the rise, which was a technical rebound at best with no significant change in macro conditions, Bookook Securities analyst Lee Won said.
**Among major economic data points, South Korea’s exports for the first 20 days of June fell 3.4% year-on-year, while imports rose 21.1%, lifting the balance trade to a deficit of $7.64 billion, according to data from the customs agency on Tuesday.
** The Bank of Korea, meanwhile, expects inflation to be higher than its previous forecast and said it will closely assess the debt repayment burden to determine whether a rate hike will half a percentage point in July was appropriate.
**Among the heavyweights, tech giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.34%, but peer SK Hynix rose 0.74%, while battery maker LG Energy Solution gained 0.36% .
**Foreigners were net sellers of 319.5 billion won ($247.00 million) of shares on the main board, while institutional investors net bought 541.5 billion won.
** The won was quoted at 1,293.6 to the dollar on the onshore settlement platform, down 0.09%.
** In offshore trading, the won was quoted down 0.2%, while in non-deliverable futures trading, its one-month contract was quoted at 1,292.3.
** In money and debt markets, June three-year Treasury bill futures fell 0.04 points to 103.76.
** The yield on the most liquid Korean 3-year Treasury fell 3.2 basis points to 3.663%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell 0.4 basis points to 3.773%. ($1 = 1,293.5200 won) (Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Uttaresh.V)