Seoul shares trade lower on profit-taking

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded sharply lower late Wednesday morning as investors cashed in recent rallies amid lingering doubt that ongoing global efforts will succeed in preventing financial turmoil from impacting the real economy, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 37.63 points, or
2.75 percent, to 1,330.06 of 11:20 a.m. The index had gained around 10 percent
over the past two sessions.
"Overnight setbacks in the U.S. set a gloomy tone for local stocks and losses
expanded as investors locked in profits from recent sharp advances," said Choi
Soon-ho, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities.
Steel and financial issues led the way, wiping out some of their recent gains.
Top steelmaker POSCO plunged 7.48 percent, while No. 2 financial service provider
Shinhan Financial Group was off 5.12 percent.
Tech heavyweight Samsung Electronics fell 3.04 percent and flat-panel maker LG
Display lost 4.91 percent. Chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor also traded 3.72 percent
lower than a day earlier.
Telecoms, however, remained relatively strong. The nation's smallest mobile
carrier, LG Telecom, jumped 3.14 percent.
On Tuesday, U.S. markets ended lower despite a government measure to buy into
equities of major banking institutions in its latest move to support the
teetering financial system. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.82 percent
following the previous day's 11.91 percent advance and the tech-dominated Nasdaq
composite index also fell 3.54 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,239.8 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 31.8 won from Tuesday's close.