Seoul shares may open lower; techs seen weak

SEOUL, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may fall on Thursday
after a run of gains that have lifted the KOSPI by 9.25 percent
this year, and following losses in Wall Street overnight on
renewed economic worries after bleak private sector job data.

Technology issues including Samsung Elec (005930.KS) are
likely to fall after U.S. tech bellwether and microchip maker
Intel Corp (INTC.O) on Wednesday issued its second revenue
warning on the fourth quarter, saying demand for personal
computers was even worse than it feared.[ID:nN07475140]

"Shares are likely to retreat after their U.S. peers' falls
on grim U.S. job data and [Intel's] profit warning. The fact that
the index has been on a gaining streak and that options expiry
falls today will not help either," said Han Beom-ho, a market
analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.

Job losses and plans to lay off workers hammered the
struggling U.S. economy in the final month of 2008, according to
private reports that could foreshadow surprisingly grim labor
market data from the government on Friday.[ID:nN07470568]

"The focus will again be on foreign investors' trading
patterns. They are likely to be more conservative as domestic
corporate results are set to come out from next week," Han added.

Foreign investors were net buyers for a sixth straight
session on Wednesday, extending their longest buying streak since
April, 2007 by picking up a net 562.7 billion won ($435.4
million), the biggest single-session purchase since October,
2007.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished up
2.84 percent at 1,228.17 points on Wednesday, the highest close
since October 15 last year, and advancing for a fifth consecutive
session, its longest gaining streak since March, 2008.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2245 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 906.65 -3% -28.050
USD/JPY JPY= 92.51 -0.17% -0.160
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 2.4958 -- 0.039
SPOT GOLD XAU= 841.3 -0.11% -0.900
US CRUDE CLc1 46.52 4.30% 1.920
DOW JONES .DJI 8769.70 -2.72% -245.40
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 96.88 -2.24% -2.22
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKETS SUMMARY
*Wall St in biggest fall in a month on jobs, tech [nN07499891]
*Oil drops largest percentage in 7 yrs on crude [nL7335836]
*US budge deficit to hit $1.2 trillion in FY2009 [nN07266602]
*US Dollar drops on bleak private sector jobs data [nN07389403]

STOCKS TO WATCH

LG ELECTRONICS (066570.KS)

The world's No.4 maker of handsets plans to soldier on as a
premier brand in North America, targeting high-income shoppers
despite the challenging economy, a senior executive said in an
interview with Reuters on Wednesday.[ID:nN07491402]

- - - -

AUTOMAKERS

J.D. Power cut its 2009 western European auto market forecast
by 600,000 units on Wednesday following a bleak December sales
month and now sees volume down 16 percent for the full year to
levels last seen in 1993.[ID:nL7704537]

- - - -

HYUNDAI MOBIS CO (012330.KS), HYUNDAI AUTONET (042100.KS)

Hyundai Mobis, South Korea's top auto parts maker, has
abandoned a plan to merge with a sister company Hyundai Autonet,
as both companies faced a combined $2.3 billion bill from
shareholders opposing their tie-up.[ID:nSEO49547]

- - - -

WOORI FINANCIAL GROUP (053000.KS)

Woori Bank, South Korea's No. 3 bank by assets, will become
the first bank to tap a $15 billion fund the government is set to
launch this year by securing 2 trillion won in capital, a local
news outlet said on Wednesday.[ID:nSEO50034]

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