Seoul shares fall

Seoul shares fell on Tuesday pressured by banks and shipbuilders including KB Financial Group and Hyundai Heavy Industries, but gains in key technology issues such as Samsung Elec helped. Analysts said worries earnings may peak in the third quarter and flatten out in the fourth quarter pressured shares.
"Markets have been under pressure after Samsung Electronics' strong third quarter guidance, as solid third quarter earnings have became a known factor, and eyes have turned to the fourth quarter," said Chung Seung-jae, a market analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
"We are seeing growing worries that South Korean firms may lose earnings momentum in the fourth quarter...US results are also being closely followed," Chung added. News North Korea may be preparing to launch more short-range missiles a day after it fired a barrage off its east coast had limited impact on markets.
"The news is a negative factor, but for now it remains a political issue with a limited impact on financial markets," said Lee Jin-woo, a market analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended down 0.66 percent at 1,628.93 points. Shipbuilders fell across the board amid worsening concerns about their quarterly earnings, as global shipping firms such as CMA CGM experience financial distress.
"Markets knew their quarterly numbers will be weak, but the numbers are seen coming out even worse than already-lowered expectations," said Cho In-karp, an analyst at Shinhan Investment Corporation, adding that earnings would suffer on order delivery delays. Hyundai Heavy Industries shed 1.66 percent and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering lost 3.37 percent.
Cho said rights issue plans by STX Corp, which leads the shipbuilding-to-shipping STX Group, weighed further on sentiment towards the sector. STX Corp tumbled 10.74 percent after the company said late on Monday that it planned to raise 162.5 billion won ($139.4 million) in a share sale to help improve the group's financial base.
"More shares mean share dilution. Investors would not be too happy with it," said Lee Sang-hun, an analyst at HI Investment Securities. Shinsegae Co Ltd rose 0.91 percent after South Korea's top retailer said its operating profit for September rose 4.9 percent from a year ago and 3.6 percent from the prior quarter.
Banking issues fell across the board with appetite cooling ahead of key US bank earnings this week. Woori Finance Holdings slipped 0.96 percent and Shinhan Financial Group shed 1.04 percent. Gains in memory chip makers supported markets, with Samsung Electronics rising 1.07 percent and Hynix Semiconductor climbing 3.0 percent. Foreign investors bought a net 10.4 billion won worth of stocks. Institutions sold a net 248 billion won worth of shares and retail investors bought a net 222.8 billion won.
Decliners led advancers 516 to 278, with 86 counters ending unchanged. Trading volume stood at 408.5 million shares worth 5.3 trillion won, down from Monday's 403.5 million shares worth 4.8 trillion won. The KOSPI 200 December futures index fell 1.30 points to 213.65, while the KOSPI 200 spot index ended down 1.13 points at 213.10. The junior Kosdaq market fell 0.36 percent to finish at 508.37 points.