Financials and electronics drag Seoul stocks down

(Updates to mid-morning)

SEOUL, March 10 (Reuters) - Seoul shares fell on Monday led
by electronics exporters and financial shares on fears that the
U.S. economy is skidding faster towards recession after news on
Friday of sharper-than-expected job cuts in February.

"Grim U.S. employment figures brought down Wall Street shares
last Friday, and the Seoul market is seeing the ripple effects
today," said Hwang Geum-dan, an analyst at Samsung Securities.

"We are waiting for the U.S. and China consumer price indexes
to come out later this week, and sentiment seems to be getting
bleaker as the idea that stagflation may be looming takes real
shape," she added.

LG Electronics (066570.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dropped 3.67 percent to 105,000
won and LG Philips LCD (034220.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) shed 1.81 percent to 46,150
won, weighing on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index ,
which was down 1.33 percent to 1,641.90 points as of 0145 GMT.

Stocks sensitive to raw material prices, namely those in
shipbuilding, steelmaking, and construction sectors, declined
across the board.

POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fell 2.06 percent to 498,500 won, and
Hyundai Steel (004020.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) lost 3.34 percent to 72,300 won. Korea
Zinc (010130.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) the world's biggest refiner of zinc, dropped
3.67 percent to 144,500 won.

Financial shares were also at the forefront of the decline
after news a top U.S. mortgage lender Thornburg Mortgage Inc.
(TMA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) failed to meet creditors' demands for more upfront
cash.[ID:nN07344671]

Kookmin Bank (060000.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), South Korea's top commercial lender
declined 1.63 percent to 54,400 won, and Shinhan Financial Group
(055550.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), a dominant financial group shed 1.0 percent to
49,350 won. Samsung Securities (016360.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fell 1.77 percent to
60,900 won.

"We keeping hearing bad news, and expect to receive more
unfavourable sets of data and figures for some time. Markets will
continue to test the bottom in the meantime," said Kim
Joong-hyun, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Meanwhile South Korea's government on Monday maintained its
2008 economic target of around 6 percent, on expectations that
tax cuts and deregulation will spur the growth in Asia'a
fourth-largest economy, the Finance Ministry said.

"I think 6 percent growth will be a tough target to make,
given current global economic downturn," said Kim Joon-kie, an
analyst at SK Securities.

Wireless communications carriers such as SK Telecom and KTF
gained, outperforming the wider market as their strong revenue
streams and broad customer bases gave them some immunity to the
business cycle and the current market slide, analysts said.

"Some investors are snapping up wireless carriers as no
immediate danger of fall is around them," said Choi Nam-kon, an
analyst at Tong Yang Investment Bank.

SK Telecom (017670.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) gained 2.24 percent to 183,000 won,
and KTF (032390.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) climbed 0.8 percent to 25,200 won.

(Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Keiron Henderson)