Seoul shares may rise; MSCI Korea additions eyed

SEOUL, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may open higher on
Thursday after gains overnight on Wall Street and positive
comments by the U.S. Federal Reserve, with shares newly added to
the MSCI Korea Index likely to get a lift.

"Markets are set to start off fairly strong today given U.S.
shares' solid finish and the comments by the Fed, which eased
earlier worries about its exit strategy," said Han Beom-ho, a
market analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

The Federal Reserve said the economy was leveling out and
left interest rate unchanged at the end of its two-day policy
meeting. It also said it would extend the duration but not the
size of a program to buy long-term government debt.
[ID:nN12181240]

Shares that were newly added to the MSCI Korea Standard Index
.MSCIKR, LS Industrial System Co (010120.KS) and Tong Yang
Securities (003470.KS), may get a boost.

"Normally this sort of announcement lifts the stocks for a
couple of sessions or more," Han said.

Unison (018000.KQ) may be helped by news the company will
soon sign a MOU with China's Fuxin city to supply it 1,000 2
megawatt wind power generating facilities over the next five
years.

A company official told Reuters the two sides were still
negotiating the price of the deal, which the market has estimated
at 4 trillion won ($3.22 billion) according to a report by the
Maeil Business Newspaper on Thursday.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index .KS11 (KOSPI)
finished down 0.88 percent at 1,565.35 points on Wednesday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2242 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1005.81 1.15% 11.460
USD/JPY JPY= 96.19 0.11% 0.110
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.7113 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 948.05 0.21% 2.000
US CRUDE CLc1 70.57 0.58% 0.420
DOW JONES .DJI 9361.61 1.30% 120.16
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 121.18 0.81% 0.97
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKETS SUMMARY
*Wall Street gains as Fed says economy is leveling out[nN1272730]
*Oil rises as optimism outweighs US inventory build [nSP527509]
*Dollar up vs yen as Fed says it will slow purchase [nN12160962]
*Treasuries hurt by Fed statement, stocks rally [nN12605872]

STOCKS TO WATCH

HYUNDAI HYSCO (010520.KS)

Hyundai Hysco said late on Wednesday its net profit rose
13.67 percent in second quarter from a year ago, but its
operating profit fell 22.24 percent.

SK ENERGY (096770.KS)

South Korea's top crude refiner expects to invest between
$100 million and $200 million in natural gas projects in Peru
next year, the company's chief for the country said on Wednesday.
[ID:nN12175249]

HYUNDAI SECURITIES (003450.KS)

Hyundai Securities reported late on Wednesday its April-June
net profit more than doubled to 78.2 billion won.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)