The value of stock settlements in South Korea plunged nearly 32 percent in the first quarter of the year as the stock market remained in the doldrums, a local clearing house said Friday.

The Korea Securities Depository (KSD) said stocks worth 1.85 trillion won ($1.49 billion) were settled through the agency per day in the January-March period, down 31.8 percent from a year earlier.

Yet the first-quarter figure was up 4.6 percent from three months earlier.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) finished at 2,757.65 points on March 31, down from 2,988.77 at the start of the year.

The daily average of bond settlements edged up 1.6 percent on-year to 28.5 trillion won. It was also up 0.6 percent from six months earlier.

The daily amount of stocks and bonds settled via the KSD stood at 30.4 trillion won in the three-month period, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier but up 0.7 percent from the previous quarter. (Yonhap)