(Updates to mid-morning)
SEOUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Seoul stocks were firm on Monday,
extending a recent strong run with technology shares outweighing
falls among financials which were made jittery by speculation of
yet more subprime-related losses to come.
Kookmin Bank 060000.KS fell 1.59 percent to 61,800 won, and
Woori Finance Holdings (053000.KS) lost 2.31 percent to 19,000
won following a report by local newspaper on Monday pointing to
South Korean losses related to the global credit crisis.
"Investor sentiment has turned somewhat sour on financials on
this talk about additional writedowns," said Kang Moon-sung, a
market analyst at Korea Investment & Securities.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 0.64 percent to
1,777.41 points as of 0149 GMT.
However technology shares such as Samsung Electronics
(005930.KS) and LG Electronics (066570.KS) continued to gain on
solid earnings prospects ahead of their earnings season later in
April, despite weak U.S. job data on Frideay pointing to a
possible U.S. recession.
Samsung went up 0.77 percent to 655,000 won and LG
Electronics advanced 2.2 percent to 139,500 won. LG Electronics
shares have jumped some 50 percent since mid-February.
LG Display (034220.KS), which is set to report its first
quarter earnings on April 10, rose 0.75 percent to 46,950 won.
"Expectations of strong earnings from handset and liquid
crystal display divisions continue to ride high," said Kim
Joong-hyun, a market analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.
"However gains today will be limited as shares have gained
sharply last week, and combined with weak U.S. job data, market
sentiment is fragile," said Kim of Goodmorning Shingan
Securities.
U.S. job data on Friday showed that nonfarm employment fell
more sharply than expected, making its biggest monthly drop in
five years and stoking worries about the world's largest economy.
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Oil refiners fell after oil price rose over 2 percent on
Friday, putting pressure on their refining margins.
SK Energy (096770.KS) fell 0.9 percent to 110,000 won and
S-Oil (010950.KS) lost 0.62 percent to 64,500 won.
(Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Keiron Henderson)
