Seoul shares rise on U.S. earnings;techs, banks up

* KOSPI up 2.3 pct

* Samsung Elec, Hynix rally after Intel earnings

* Banks up on Goldman Sachs results, H2 hopes

(Updates to mid-morning)

By Jungyoun Park

SEOUL, July 15 (Reuters) - Seoul shares rose on Wednesday led
by techs and banks such as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and KB
Financial Group (105560.KS), helped by key U.S. peers'
stronger-than-expected results.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index .KS11 (KOSPI) was up
2.30 percent at 1,417.48 points as of 0153 GMT.

"Markets are led by technology issues following earnings by
Intel (INTC.O) overnight. Financials are also up on hopes for the
second half of this year," said Choi Seong-lak, a market analyst
at SK Securities.

"But given that the index is trading at the upper limit of
its near-term moving average, momentum is not likely to get
stronger than it is now," Choi said, adding that the market would
face further resistance at the psychologically significant 1,450
point level.

The main KOSPI's 40-day moving average is about 1,400 points,
according to Reuters data.

Memory chip makers such as Samsung Elec and Hynix
Semiconductor (000660.KS) rallied after Intel Corp's (INTC.O)
quarterly results and outlook blew past Wall Street forecasts on
better-than-expected consumer demand for PCs, especially in Asia.
[ID:nN14260734]

"(The results) come as a positive signal to memory chip
makers, as evidence the memory chip industry is turning around,"
said Suh Do-won, an analyst at Hanwha Securities.

"The third quarter is seasonally a good time for memory chip
makers, but growth in the fourth quarter may not be as good...as
demand for PCs is not so robust worldwide," Suh added.

Samsung Electronic shares were up 4.57 percent at 663,000 won
after earlier hitting 665,000 won, their highest since late June
2008.

Shares in Hynix Semiconductor were up 2.71 percent.

Shares in banks also rallied helped by stronger-than-expected
quarterly earnings by Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and brewing hopes for
the second half of this year.

"Goldman Sachs' quarterly earnings figures came out
surprisingly good, and this helped ease existing concerns about
global capital markets," said Ku Yong-uk, a market analyst at
Daewoo Securities.

"Also while domestic banks' second quarter earnings will
probably come out weak, their performance from the second half is
expected to improve gradually," Ku added.

Shares in KB Financial Group (105560.KS), the holding company
of South Korea's largest lender Kookmin Bank, rose 5.57 percent
and Shinhan Financial Group (055550.KS) gained 5 percent.

But shares in SK Telecom (017670.KS) fell 1.4 percent after
South Korea's top mobile phone operator said late on Tuesday it
was considering bidding for a 51 percent stake in Kazakhtelecom's
KZTK.KZ wireless unit Mobile Telecom Service. [ID:nSEO17890]

Shares in Namkwang Engineering & Construction (001260.KS)
rallied 7.46 percent after the company said in a filing to the
Korea Exchange on Wednesday that it had won an construction order
worth more than 135 billion won ($104.2 million) from Vietnam.

(Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)