Seoul shares seen up as oil retreats below $130
SEOUL, May 28 (Reuters) - Seoul shares are likely to advance on Wednesday, after a sharp decline in oil prices on Tuesday eased worries about consumer sentiment and corporate profits, lifting Wall Street shares overnight.
Technology issues such as LG Electronics (066570.KS) may gain
after their U.S. peers rallied on hopes a near-3 percent decline
in oil prices will help shore up consumer and business spending.
Oil fell $4 to $128 a barrel, pulled by the stronger U.S. dollar and on concerns moves to cut Asian fuel subsidies could hurt demand growth.[ID:nSP23355]
Carriers such as Korean Air Line (003490.KS) and Asiana Airlines (020560.KS), which had lost ground in recent weeks on the back of jet fuel cost worries, may also gain.
"Oil's drop is good news, but since the market's rise yesterday had somewhat factored this in, gains will not likely be substantial," said Sung Jin-kyung, a market analyst at Daishin Securities.
"Sectors that had declined sharper than the others during the past week, such as airlines and refiners, could outperform," Sung added.
Meanwhile ongoing talk of acquisitions in the brokerage sector may boost shares in securities firms such as Kyobo Securities (030610.KS) and SK Securities (001510.KS).
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed up 1.37 percent to 1,825.23 points on Tuesday, which is still down 4 percent from the year's peak of 1,901 points reached May 19. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2233 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 .SPX 1385.35 0.68% 9.420 USD/JPY JPY= 104.22 -0.04% -0.040 10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.9207 -- 0.000 SPOT GOLD XAU= 905.3 0.06% 0.500 US CRUDE CLc1 128.35 -0.39% -0.500 DOW JONES .DJI 12548.35 0.55% 68.72 ASIA ADRS .BKAS 161.51 0.26% 0.42 -------------------------------------------------------------
MARKETS SUMMARY *Techs rise with lower oil, Wall Street jumps [ID:nN27397442] *Oil drops $4 to $128 a barrel on dollar gains [ID:nSP23355] *Dollar rises broadly on housing data, oil drop [ID:nN27393191] *Treasuries slip on inflation fear, Fed rate view [ID:nN27585635]
STOCKS TO WATCH
SK TELECOM (017670.KS)
South Korea's top mobile phone operator said on Tuesday it has agreed to join a consortium investing $1 billion in the construction of a Beijing development centre that will research and design content and technology.[ID:nHKG179999]
HYUNDAI HEAVY INDUSTRIES (009540.KS)
The world's top shipbuilder has agreed to buy two financial units including the brokerage from South Korea's CJ Group for some 800 billion won ($765.8 million), local media reported late on Tuesday [ID:nSEO182557]
(Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
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