Monday, January 18, 2010
* KOSPI declines 0.5 pct; foreign investors buy
* Banks under pressure after weak JPMorgan results
* Nuclear power issues rise on Turkey order hopes
By Jungyoun Park
SEOUL, Jan 18 - Seoul shares fell on Monday with financials including KB Financial Group <105560.KS> weighed by JPMorgan Chase & Co's <JPM.N> weaker-than-expected results, but nuclear power issues including KEPCO <015760.KS> rose on order hopes.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index <.KS11> was down 0.50 percent at 1,693.32 points as of 0218 GMT.
'Shares are under pressure after a U.S. bank result, but the correction would neither be long nor substantial, as the scale of weakness was not extraordinary,' said Lee Kyung-soo, an market analyst at Shinyoung Securities.
'The main index should be able to settle comfortably at 1,700 points level in the near future, as bullish earnings outllook of South Korea's key technology issues still remain valid,' Lee added.
Foreign and retail investors were buyers of a net 25.3 billion won and 74.4 billion won each, while institutions offloaded 87 billion won.
Losses in banks weighed on markets, as KB Financial Group <105560.KS>, the parent firm of South Korea's top commercial lender Kookmin Bank, fell 2.44 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group <055550.KS> declined 3.49 percent.
But shares in nuclear power related issues rallied amid strengthening hopes a South Korean consortium including Korea Electric Power Corp <015760.KS> may win nuclear power deals from Turkey.
Speculation a consortium including KEPCO and Doosan Heavy Industries <034020.KS> was likely to win nuclear power facility orders from Turkey worth some 2 trillion-4 trillion won ($1.77 billion-$3.55 billion) was 'pushing related shares higher,' said Cho In-karp, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.
A KEPCO spokesman declined to comment.
Shares in KEPCO were up 3.03 percent and Doosan Heavy rose 5.08 percent. Shares in Korea Power Engineering Co Inc <052690.KS> jumped 7.36 percent.
Elsewhere shares in Samsung SDI <006400.KS> advanced 4.51 percent after local media reported Samsung SDI and General Motors [GM.UL] were jointly conducting lithium battery research, which a Samsung SDI spokesman later confirmed.
'A Samsung SDI and Bosch joint venture has already secured deals to supply auto batteries to Delphi and BMW, so there's no reason for Samsung SDI not to eventually win a GM supply deal,' said John Soh, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corp.
SB LiMotive, a car battery joint venture between Samsung SDI and Germany's Robert Bosch [ROBG.UL], agreed to supply U.S. autoparts maker Delphi and German automaker BMW last year. [ID:nTOE5B704B] [ID:nL3141522]
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