(LEAD) Seoul stocks end 0.59 pct lower on correction woes

(ATTN: ADDS bond yields at bottom)
SEOUL, Nov. 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks finished 0.59 percent lower Tuesday
as they underwent a correction on recovery jitters and looming exit strategies,
analysts said.

The local currency edged higher against the U.S. dollar
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 9.17 points to
end at 1,549.92, taking its losing streak to a sixth consecutive session. Volume
was light at 270 million shares worth 3.6 trillion won (US$3 billion) with losers
outnumbering gainers 422 to 364.
"Local stock markets are undergoing a correction alongside global shares on
worries that sluggish private consumption is delaying the U.S. recovery and exit
strategies to come," said Kwak Joong-bo, an analyst at Hana Daetoo Securities.
Financial shares were the biggest losers as the collapse Sunday of CIT Group, a
U.S lender to small businesses, battered investor sentiment in the banking
sector.
KB Financial Group, the holding company for top lender Kookmin Bank, fell 2.23
percent to 57,100 won and second-largest financial company Woori Finance Holding
plunged 5.59 percent to end at 15,200 won.
Kumho Industrial, an affiliate of seventh-largest conglomerate Kumho Group,
gained 0.49 percent to 10,350 won after the group reported on Monday it signed a
final deal with a local asset manager to sell a 13.29 percent stake in its
insurance unit to allay a liquidity squeeze.
KT, the largest fixed-line telephone operator, rose 1.03 percent to 39,100 won
after reporting better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.
The local currency ended at 1,182 won to the U.S. dollar, up 0.5 percent from
Monday's close, on growing risk appetites for the South Korean won, dealers said.
Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed unchanged. The return on
three-year Treasuries finished flat at 4.43 percent and the benchmark yield on
five-year government bonds also ended steady at 4.93 percent.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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