Seoul stocks seen rising after U.S. pre-Xmas rally

SEOUL, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Seoul stocks could rise on Monday
in thin pre-Christmas trade, led by exporters such as Samsung
Electronics (005930.KS) after better-than-expected U.S. spending
data eased worries about South Korea's No.2 export destination.

Financial stocks may extend a recent bull run after reports
of a possible foreign investment in Merrill Lynch MER.N boosted
appetite for banking stocks. [ID:nN21264337]

But fuel cost-sensitive firms such as Korean Air (003490.KS)
may fall after oil prices jumped on the strong U.S. spending
report.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended
up 1.84 percent at 1,878.32 points on Friday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2300 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1484.46 1.67% 24.340
USD/JPY JPY= 114.01 -0.07% -0.080
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 4.1718 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 811 0.00% 0.000
US CRUDE CLc1 93.72 0.44% 0.410
DOW JONES .DJI 13450.65 1.55% 205.01
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKETS SUMMARY

*Techs, banks prompt U.S. stocks to fly [ID:nN21289797]

*Oil jumps more than $2 on U.S. spending report [ID:nSP216814]
*Dollar scales 6-wk peaks vs yen, euro firms [ID:nN21574277]

*Bonds sink as stocks rally before Christmas [ID:nN21584835]

*US consumer spending strong in November, prices up
[ID:nN21255598]

STOCKS TO WATCH

- Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said on Friday it had
agreed with Hitachi Ltd's (6501.T) data storage business unit to
a licence deal over hard disk drive patents. [ID:nSEO206277]

- STX Pan Ocean

STX Pan Ocean (028670.KS), South Korea's biggest dry bulk
shipping company, will buy back shares worth 29 billion won
($30.84 million) between Dec. 25 and March 24 to bolster share
prices, it said in a filing with the Korea Exchange late on
Friday.

- LCD makers

Japanese electronics conglomerate Toshiba Corp (6502.T) said
it will buy large liquid crystal displays from Sharp Corp
(6753.T) as part of an alliance likely to help spark a
realignment of the flat panel TV industry. [ID:nT200748]
(Reporting by Kim Soyoung; Editing by Sei Chong)