Seoul shares turn weaker late morning

SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded 0.28 percent lower late
Thursday morning as losses of financial shares outweighed auto gains caused by a
massive worldwide recall of vehicles by Toyota Motor Co., analysts said.
After range-bound trading, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index
(KOSPI) fell 4.58 points to 1,610.44 as of 11:20 a.m.
Bank shares lost ground. Top financial services company KB Financial Group fell
2.3 percent and its rival Shinhan Financial Group declined 0.69 percent ahead of
its announcement of the fourth-quarter earnings due later in the day.
But leading automaker Hyundai Motor rose 3.57 percent and its affiliate Kia
Motors gained 2.44 percent on market expectations that Korean carmakers will
benefit from their Japanese rival's auto recalls.
The local currency was trading at 1,153.45 won against the U.S. dollar as of
11:20 a.m., down 4.45 won from Wednesday's close.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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