Seoul shares seen modestly higher; refiners eyed

SEOUL, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may see modest
gains on Tuesday after European stocks made a positive start to
the new year on Monday, but rises will likely be limited amid
the multiple uncertainties looming over global financial
markets.
"The market will be helped by European stocks' firm gains
overnight," said Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at Hyundai
Securities.
"But the longer-term direction is still hard to determine
given the many uncertainties," Bae said, citing the ongoing
euro-zone debt crisis, upheaval in the Middle East and
geopolitical risks following the North Korean leader's death
last month.
Crude oil refiners and energy price sensitive airlines
including S-Oil and Korean Air Line may
be watched after U.S. crude oil prices rose more than a dollar
on Tuesday on worries escalating tensions between Iran and the
West could lead to supply disruptions.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended
up 0.03 percent at 1,826.37 points on Monday, the first trading
day of 2012.

------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 22:29 GMT-----------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CH
S&P 500 1,257.60 -0.43% -5.420
USD/JPY 76.87 0.01% 0.010
10-YR US TSY YLD 1.876 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD $1,565.41 0.00% 0.000
US CRUDE $99.19 -0.46% -0.820
DOW JONES 12217.56 -0.57% -69.48
ASIA ADRS 113.31 0.60% 0.68
-------------------------------------------------------------
>Wall St off on last trading day; S&P flat for 2011
>Prices rise on last day of 2011 trading
>Euro hits decade low vs yen, more falls likely
>Oil ends 2011 up 13 percent, third year of gains

STOCKS TO WATCH

LOCK&LOCK CO LTD
Lock&Lock said it had finished the construction of a
heat-resistant glass factory in Vietnam with annual capacity of
10,000 tonnes, according to a local media report.

SHINSEGAE, LOTTE SHOPPING
Shinsegae and Lotte said Tuesday that they would focus on
their online shopping businesses in 2012, with Lotte Shopping
setting a sales target for the division of 300 billion won
($260.4 million), according to a local media report.

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS
The world's No.1 memory chip maker is planning to re-enter
the Japanese flat-panel television market next year, the Nikkei
business daily reported on Tuesday, without citing
sources.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)