Seoul shares firm as banks rally;BOK impact limited

* KOSPI trades firm, up 0.55 pct

* Financials outperform as stock markets rise

* Web security firms continue to rally on hacker fears
(Updates to mid-morning)

By Jungyoun Park

SEOUL, July 9 (Reuters) - Seoul shares turned higher late on
Thursday morning, with gains by financials including KB Financial
Group (105560.KS) providing impetus, but a Bank of Korea decision
to hold the key interest rate unchanged had a limited impact.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up
0.55 percent at 1,438.85 points as of 0128 GMT.

"The reaction to the Bank of Korea's rate decision is rather
muted, as expected. But financials are rallying today on the back
of hopes the market is headed for up," said Y.S.Rhoo, a market
analyst at Hyundai Securities, who said the latest rise in
trading volume boded well for brokerages.

"Banks are rising on talk that their second-quarter earnings
may come out better than the market's utterly bleak expectations.
The latest rise in house-backed loans and the record-low interest
rate environment also help," Rhoo added.

Samsung Securities (016360.KS) was up 3.98 percent, and Woori
Investment & Securities (005940.KS) advanced 3.44 percent.

KB Financial Group, the holding company for South Korea's
largest lender Kookmin Bank, was up 4.52 percent and Shinhan
Financial Group (055550.KS) gained 3.19 percent.

But technology issues, which had outperformed this month,
lagged as some investors moved to lock in profit, and weighed
further by falls in the U.S. semiconductor index .SOXX.

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), the world's No.1 memory
chipmaker, was up 0.15 percent, and Hynix Semiconductor
(000660.KS) lost 1.61 percent.

Carmakers fell after their latest set of gains and growing
caution about their second-half outlook.

"Yes their second-quarter earnings will improve on the back
of the government's stimulus package, but that also means
consumers bought cars ahead, and their consumption in the second
half will likely weaken," said Choi Dae-sik, a senior analyst at
HI Investment Securities.

"Their shares have risen to levels that are not quite
justified by their earnings prospects," Choi added.

Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) fell 1.53 percent and Kia Motors
(000270.KS) lost 2.08 percent.

But providers of Internet security services and software
continued to trade sharply higher after several South Korean
institutions and companies were hit by attacks from unknown
hackers.

Ahnlab Inc (053800.KQ) spiked nearly 15 percent and ETSsoft
Corp (047560.KQ) jumped 8.2 percent.
(Editing by Chris Lewis)