Seoul stocks open steady on institutional buying

SEOUL, Feb. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened unchanged Tuesday as
institutional buying helped offset foreign sell-offs, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 0.3 point, or 0.02
percent, to trade at 1,593.96 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Banking shares started weaker on continuing jitters over European debt problems
while Daewoo Engineering & Construction jumped as much as 7 percent on reports
that an American consortium is in talks to buy the builder from
financially-embattled Kumho Asiana Group.
The local currency was trading at 1,154.6 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m.,
down 3.1 won from Friday's close.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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