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Seoul stocks turn weaker; Kookmin, Hana fall

Mon Mar 17, 2008 11:38pm EDT

Stocks

   

(Updates to afternoon)

SEOUL, March 18 (Reuters) - Seoul shares gave up initial gains to be down 0.3 percent by midsession on Tuesday, a falls in financials after the fire-sale of Bear Stearns Cos Inc kept investors on edge, fanning credit market fears.

Top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank 060000.KS fell 5.85 percent to 49,900 won, and Hana Financial Group (086790.KS) declined 3.34 percent to 37,600 won.

Falls in financials outweighed gains in technology shares, which rose on hopes the weakening won will make South Korean exports more price-competitive in overseas markets. World number one memory chip maker Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) was up 2.4 percent to 563,000 won.

By 0329 GMT the Korea Composite Stock Price Index stood at 1,569.67 points, giving up an early 0.7 percent gain and 0.30 percent below Monday's close, which was KOSPI's lowest finish in 10 months.

(Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Keiron Henderson)



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