Seoul shares seen up on econ hopes; Kumho cos eyed

SEOUL, June 2 (Reuters) - Seoul shares are set to open higher
on Tuesday after strong overnight gains on Wall Street, with
strengthening economic hopes on better-than-expected U.S.
manufacturing data set to boost sentiment.

"Markets will start off strong on the back of surging
economic hopes fueled by a set of global manufacturing data
including that of the United States," said Han Beom-ho, a market
analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

The U.S. manufacturing sector showed improvement in May,
contracting at a slower rate for the fifth straight month,
according to a report on Monday [ID:nN01259240]

"General Motors' (GM.N) bankruptcy filing may cause some pain
in the short-term as it could cause unemployment to rise. But in
the eyes of the investor, a huge uncertainty has been removed,"
Han added.

Automakers including Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) may be eyed
after General Motors Corp (GM.N) filed for bankruptcy on Monday,
forcing the 100-year-old automaker once seen as a symbol of
American economic might and dynamism into a new and uncertain era
of government ownership.[ID:nN01398575]

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)
finished up 1.38 percent at 1,415.10 points on Monday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2242 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 942.87 2.58% 23.730
USD/JPY JPY= 96.55 0.02% 0.020
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.4495 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 972.6 -0.14% -1.350
US CRUDE CLc1 67.86 -1.05% -0.710
DOW JONES .DJI 8721.44 2.60% 221.11
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 114.59 3.47% 3.84
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKETS SUMMARY
*Wall St jumps on recovery bets, GM; AmEx off late [nN01337811]
*Oil jumps 3 pct, factory data spurs recovery hope [nSP428779]
*US dollar falls to '09 low as risk tolerance rises [nN01586953]
*Wall Street rally, reassuring data hurt bonds [nN01324683]

STOCKS TO WATCH

KUMHO ASIANA GROUP SHARES

Kumho Asiana Group shares including Kumho Industrial
(002990.KS) and Kumho Tires (073240.KS) may react to a Maeil
Business Newspaper report that the group agreed with creditors to
find new investors to fund its 2006 acquisition of Daewoo
Engineering & Construction (047040.KS) by the end of July.

ENERGY ISSUES

Energy stocks including SK Energy (096770.KS) may be in the
spotlight after oil jumped more than 3 percent to hit a near
seven-month high over $68 a barrel on Monday, as improving global
factory activity bolstered expectations of an economic
recovery.[ID:nSP429646]

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS (005930.KS)

Samsung Electronics on Monday unveiled the world's first
cellphone model with a 12 megapixel camera, a higher resolution
than most digital cameras. [ID:nL1428521]

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)