Seoul shares up 0.49 pct in late morning

SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks rose 0.49 percent late Thursday
morning as steel, machinery and other large caps were lifted by overnight Wall
Street gains, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 5.03 points to
1,027.7 as of 11:20 a.m.
"Retail investors are continuing to scoop up battered blue chips from the
previous session after hearing news of overnight U.S. stock gains," Bae
Sung-yung, an analyst at Hyundai Securities, said.
Institutions and foreign investors, however, went on a selling spree as the
outlook of the global economy remains unclear at the moment, Bae added.
U.S. shares gained ground on Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average
climbing 2.05 percent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index rising 2.94
percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,472.1 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 3.1 won from Wednesday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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