Seoul shares ended lower on Thursday led by banks on credit worries after Lehman Brothers reported unexpectedly big losses overnight, with heavy programme selling due to options and futures expiries adding to volatility. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed 1.48 percent lower at 1,443.24 points, with volatility spiking up in the last hour of business due the expirations.
"There has been some heavy selling in programme accounts as options and futures expiries fell today, and coupled with foreign selling, the index headed downward," said Kim Joong-hyun, a market analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.
"As oil prices are seen stabilising...with the current attractive valuations, the markets may gradually gain an upward momentum," said Won Jong-hyuck, a market analyst at SK Securities. Foreign investors were net sellers of 60 billion won ($54.29 million) worth of shares listed on the main board.
Banking issues including Kookmin Bank and Shinhan Financial Group retreated on persistent credit worries after troubled US investment bank Lehman Brothers reported an unexpectedly large quarterly loss and set an asset sales plan that left investors sceptical.
Kookmin Bank fell 4.14 percent to 57,900 won and Shinhan Financial Group lost 4.65 percent to 47,200 won. Hana Financial Group declined 4.37 percent to 36,100 won, while Woori Finance lost 4.35 percent to 14,300 won. Kia Motors fell 7.96 percent to 13,300 won on market talk that South Korea's second biggest automaker may report operating losses for the third quarter, according to analysts.
"Talk of third quarter operating losses, in addition to the worries that the preliminary wage deal will burden Kia with heavier compensations, weighed on the shares," said Kevin Lee, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securities.
"But our estimates show that the number won't be so bad for the third quarter," Lee added. Meanwhile shares in Kumho Asiana Group units rallied on hopes over the sale of the group's stake in unlisted Kumho Life Insurance, after a local media reported a sale was imminent.
Kumho Asiana Group had in July announced its plans to sell non-core assets to raise liquidity, and said in a statement on Thursday sale of a stake in Kumho Life remained a possibility. Kumho Industrial jumped 6.43 percent to 18,200 won and Asiana Airlines rose 4.89 percent to 4,610 won.
C&Heavy Industries Co tumbled on earlier reports that it was seeking to sell one of its shipyards. C & Heavy confirmed the reports, but added that details are yet to be decided. C&Heavy shares ended down 14.97 percent to 2,925 won. Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No 2 memory chip maker, continued to ride higher on Thursday on hopes of a stake sale by creditors, and on latest announcements by chip rivals to cut output. Hynix ended 1.0 percent higher at 20,300 won.
Korea Exchange also said asset managers sold a net 1.26 trillion won worth of stocks, the biggest historical net selling amount. But pension funds were net buyers of 547 billion won, the biggest net buying so far this year.
Decliners outnumbered advancers by 437 to 361, with 82 titles ending flat. Trade volume stood at 357 million shares worth 6.09 trillion won, compared with 415 million shares worth 5.4 trillion won on Wednesday. The KOSPI 200 September futures index lost 2.25 points to 186.25 and the KOSPI 200 spot index fell 3.23 points to 185.27. The junior Kosdaq market rose 0.84 percent to 454.78 points.
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