Seoul shares plunge on U.S. financial jitters

SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks tumbled nearly 6 percent late Tuesday morning as foreign investors, unnerved by Lehman Brothers Holdings' bankruptcy, hastily pulled money out of blue chips, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) plummeted 88.83 points,
or 6.01 percent, to 1,389.09 as of 11:20 a.m. The Korea Exchange, the nation's
bourse operator, temporarily suspended program selling orders on the KOSPI in
early trading due to volatile futures prices.

"The bankruptcy filing of Lehman Brothers is evidently echoing across the
globe, with indexes in developed markets having fallen around 4 percent on
average on Monday," said Lim Dong-min an analyst at Dongbu Securities.

U.S. stocks were mauled Monday on news that Lehman Brothers, America's No. 4
investment bank, filed for the largest bankruptcy in the country's history. The
Dow Jones industrial average plunged 4.42 percent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq
composite index tumbled 3.6 percent.

Financials led the overall broad and steep declines, with top lender Kookmin Bank
tumbling 8.15 percent and leading brokerage Mirae Asset Securities plummeting
more than 12.42 percent. Leading non-life insurer Samsung Fire & Marine shed
6.2 percent.

Tech exporters, construction and shipyard shares were also beaten. Market
heavyweight Samsung Electronics was down 4.42 percent and leading builder Daewoo
Engineering & Construction slumped 7.3 percent. Hyundai Heavy Industries, the
world's largest shipyard, was down 7.58 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,150.05 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 40.95 won from Friday's close, as foreign investors rushed to purchase
the dollar after dumping shares in the local bourse, dealers said. South Korea's
financial markets were closed Monday for the Chuseok holiday.

odissy@yna.co.kr

(END)