Seoul shares trade 5.5 pct lower on recession woes

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks sank 5.46 percent in early afternoon trading Thursday as investors were gripped by fears over a global recession, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) tumbled 61.33 points to
1,062.53 as of 12:20 p.m.
"The key stock index nosedived as investors seemed to believe that gloomy
corporate earnings fanned concerns that the global economy may enter into a
recession," said Kwak Joong-bo, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities Co. "Worries
over squeezed liquidity for domestic firms also weighed on the market."
Steep losses caused the Korea Exchange, the bourse operator, to suspend program
trading early on for five minutes after the main index futures prices fell more
than 5 percent. It was the twentieth such emergency break this year.
U.S. stocks nosedived Wednesday as dismal corporate earnings chilled investor
sentiment. The announcement that the Bush administration dropped its plans to buy
sour mortgage assets also raised concerns over the banking sector. The Dow Jones
industrial average tumbled 4.73 percent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite
index plunged 5.17 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,392.5 won to the U.S. dollar as of 12:20
p.m., down 33 won from Wednesday's close.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)