Seoul shares steady; techs up, banks down

(Updates to mid-morning)

SEOUL, May 6 (Reuters) - Seoul shares traded steady on
Tuesday, with gains by chipmakers on higher memory chip prices
helping offset losses by banking titles after they reported a
weak set of first quarter results last Friday.

Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS), the world's No. 2 memory
chip maker, gained 1.25 percent to 28,300 won after the firm said
on Monday that it raised contract prices for its computer memory
chips by around 15 percent in April and expected further price
increases in May [ID:nSEO71151], and Samsung Electronics
(005930.KS) also gained 0.55 percent to 735,000 won.

But financials such as Kookmin Bank 060000.KS fueled
downward momentum after reporting weak first quarter results on
Friday and after their Wall Street peers slipped on worries the
Bank of America (BAC.N) may walk away from buying troubled lender
Countrywide Financial Corp CFC.N.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 0.12 percent at
1,850.48 points as of 0120 GMT, hitting another four-month
intraday-high.

"Better than expected U.S. employment figures last week
offered hopes that the U.S. slowdown is not as severe as many
feared," said Kim Joong-hyun, a market analyst at Goodmorning
Shinhan Securities.

"The market is steady with a steady stream of buying from
institutions and foreigners, but we are not going to see
substantial gains after the latest rallies," Kim added.

Kookmin Bank fell 3.64 percent to 68,900 won and Shinhan
Financial Group (055550.KS) dropped 3.4 percent to 56,900 won.

"We have leveled down our target price on Kookmin and have
also switched our rating from strong buy to buy on its steeper
than expected fall in net interest margins," said Daniel Baek, an
analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.

Consumer electronics manufacturers such as LG Electronics
(066570.KS) and LG Display (034220.KS) gained after the South
Korean won KRW= continued to fall against the U.S. dollar on
Tuesday, boosting their price competitiveness against other
global manufacturers.

LG Electronics advanced 1.3 percent to 156,000 won and LG
Display gained 4.77 percent to 46,100 won.

LG Display's gains came on the back of an upbeat industry
outlook after U.S. LCD glass manufacturer Corning Inc (GLW.N)
unveiled solid first quarter results, analysts said.

"Corning's confidence in its future performance and strong
quarterly results boosted sentiment towards LCD makers," said
John So, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

"Also, LG Display did not see as steep gains as its industry
peers during the latest tech rallies, making its valuations more
attractive," So added.

Transportation issues such as Korean Air Line (003490.KS) and
Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) fell after oil prices hit a record
high on Monday, reviving worries about travel demand and
operational costs.

Korean Air fell 3.28 percent to 53,000 won and Asiana
Airlines dropped 1.72 percent to 6,270 won.

POSCO (005490.KS) rose 2.94 percent to 508,000 won after news
on Monday that the world's No.4 steelmaker has agreed to acquire
19.99 percent of Australian miner Sandfire Resources NL (SFR.AX),
providing it funds to dig deeper for iron ore and other
minerals.[ID:nSYD342408]

(Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)