(Updates to mid-morning)
By Park Jung-youn
SEOUL, July 7 (Reuters) - Seoul shares opened lower on
Monday, continuing their longest losing streak in five years,
with financials hit by fresh credit worries on bearish brokerage
comments and easier oil lending little support to airlines.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index was down 0.95
percent to 1,562,93 points as of 0105 GMT, heading for its eighth
consecutive losing session and about 1.6 percent away from the
mid-March low of 1,537.53 points.
"Foreign selling on the back of uncertainties that abound in
the market -- namely energy prices, inflation pressure and an
economic slowdown -- are continuing to weigh on the index," said
Won Jong-hyuk, a market analyst at SK Securities.
"Added to that are anxieties about U.S. banks' earnings set
to come out from next week. Earnings expectations for South
Korean firms have also been lowered," Won added.
However analysts said that the shares may not fall with the
same rapid velocity seen in recent weeks as the index nears its
yearly low.
Memory chip makers such as Samsung Electronics (005930.KS)
and Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS) dropped on worsening worries
about their outlook as inflationary pressure and slowing
economies are set to eat into demand for electronic goods,
analysts said.
"On the back of the slowing DRAM chip recovery and falls in
NAND Flash prices, investors are doubting earlier views that the
chip market will recover from the second half," said Kim
Young-june, an analyst at Kyobo Securities.
Samsung Elec came under further pressure on media reports of
negative brokerage comments on the world's No.1 memory chip maker
by UBS Securities, citing a slowdown in the European market.
Samsung Elec was down 1.95 percent to 604,000 won and Hynix
fell 3.21 percent to 22,600 won.
Meanwhile financials lost across the board on fresh credit
worries after bearish comments by Goldman Sachs on Friday on the
European banking sector.[ID:nBNG188566]
Samsung Securities (016360.KS) tumbled 3.88 percent to 59,500
won and Woori Investment & Securities (005940.KS) was down 1.34
percent to 18,350 won.
Shares in Hyundai Motor (005380.KS) shed 2.92 percent to
69,700 won amid increasingly trying market conditions, analysts
said.
"There are a lot of negatives with little, if at all,
positives (for Hyundai). There's talk of implementing measures to
curtail driving amid rising energy prices, and oil is showing no
signs of stabilising," said Yong Dae-in, an analyst at Hanwha
Securities.
"Its employees are talking about walkouts, making the picture
even grimmer," Yong added.
Retreating oil prices did little to prop up the share prices
of energy-sensitive issues such as Korean Air Line (003490.KS),
which hit a 52-week low of 39,350 won on expectations it would
post its largest-ever operating loss in the second quarter.
