Seoul stocks fall 2.05 pct on earnings woes

(ATTN: ADDS bond yields at bottom)
SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks closed 2.05 percent lower Friday
as investors were spooked by growing worries about corporate earnings, analysts
said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 22.83 points to
1,093.4. Volume was light at 259.1 million shares worth 3.5 trillion won (US$2.5
billion), with losers outpacing gainers 582 to 215.
"Market sentiment, already dented by overnight Wall Street losses, took a further
hit from disappointing earnings of market bellwether Samsung Electronics," said
Sung Jin-kyung, an analyst at Daeshin Securities.
Samsung Electronics, which reported earlier in the day its first-ever quarterly
loss of 20 billion won for the final quarter of 2008, plunged 4.12 percent to
442,000 won.
Smaller rival LG Electronics also dropped 5.79 percent to close at 68,300 won on
a murky outlook for the electronics market amid a slumping economy.
Local telecom shares lost ground on weak earnings results released earlier in the
day. Top mobile carrier SK Telecom dropped 0.94 percent to 210,000 won and KT,
the biggest fixed-line operator, lost 1.2 percent to 41,000 won.
The local currency ended at 1,390.9 won to the dollar, down 12.9 won from
Thursday's close, foreigners sold local shares and bought the greenback, dealers
said.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The return on
three-year Treasuries dropped 0.01 percentage point to 3.38 percent and the
benchmark yield on five-year government bonds went down 0.08 percentage point to
3.96 percent.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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