Seoul shares plunge 2.28 pct in late morning

SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks tumbled 2.28 percent late Tuesday morning on overnight U.S. losses triggered by a report on the global economy's recession, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 24.16 points to
1,034.46 as of 11:20 a.m., after falling around 5 percent in earlier trading.
"Drastic falls on Wall Street rocked the Seoul market in early trading, but local
shares pared losses somewhat as investors picked up shares in anticipation of
year-end dividends," said Kwak Jung-bo, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities.
Wall Street dropped sharply on Monday as the National Bureau of Economic
Research, a nonprofit U.S. business cycle classifier, and a raft of economic data
said that the U.S. is in recession since December 2007 while the Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that the economy remained under considerable
strain.
The Dow Jones industrial average shed 7.7 percent, recording its second-worst
daily drop this year, while the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index shed 8.95
percent to end at 1,398.07.
The local currency was trading at 1,457.5 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 17.5 won from Monday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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