Seoul shares fall 4.34 pct on U.S. losses

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks tumbled 4.34 percent late Thursday
morning as overnight Wall Street plunges triggered a selling spree, analysts
said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) nosedived 44.17 points to
977.19 as of 11:20 a.m. The Korea Exchange, the bourse operator, suspended
program trading early on for five minutes after the main index futures prices
fell more than 5 percent.
"Massive Wall Street losses are creating ripples around the globe, with finance,
construction and shipyards taking major beatings on the local bourse," said Lim
Dong-min, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.
U.S. stocks hit their lowest level since 2003 on Wednesday amid a dour economic
outlook from the Federal Reserve and worries over the fate of the nation's
top-three automakers. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 5.07 percent and
the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index plummeted 6.53 percent.
Nearly all large caps in the Seoul bourse were battered across the board, with
finance, construction and shipbuilders leading the broad and steep losses.
The local currency was trading at 1,482.1 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20
a.m., down 35.6 won from Wednesday's close.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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