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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) boosted
appetite for banking stocks. [ID:nN21264337]

But fuel cost-sensitive firms such as Korean Air (003490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Friday it had
agreed with Hitachi Ltd's (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) data storage business unit to
a licence deal over hard disk drive patents. [ID:nSEO206277]

- STX Pan Ocean

STX Pan Ocean (028670.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), 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: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said
it will buy large liquid crystal displays from Sharp Corp
(6753.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 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)