Seoul shares fell on Wednesday led by steelmakers and shipbuilders including POSCO and Hyundai Heavy Industries, but gains in casualty insurers lent markets support. China's monetary tightening and weaker-than-expected US earnings, namely that of Alcoa, dealt a negative blow to market sentiment, said Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at Hyundai Securities.
China, which gave a lift to Asia and countries that have been able to feed its voracious appetite for commodities from metals to crude oil, took its strongest step towards tightening monetary policy on Tuesday. "China's tightening signals are weighing particularly on sectors that tend to respond sensitively to Chinese economic issues, such as steel, shipbuilders and chemicals," Bae added.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) finished down 1.60 percent at 1,671.41 points. Foreign investors were sellers of a net 150.6 billion won ($133.7 million) worth of stocks, and institutions offloaded a net 220 billion won. POSCO, the world's No 4 steelmaker, fell 4.49 percent, while Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's No 1 shipbuilder, retreated 5.64 percent.
Energy issues also declined, with SK Energy, South Korea's top crude refiner, losing 4.45 percent and S-Oil, the country's No 3, declining 1.82 percent. Retail issues fell after South Korea's monthly jobs data showed no improvement from November and amid growing wariness about the economy.
South Korea's jobless rate in December last year was steady at a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent from November, official data showed on Wednesday. Shares in Lotte Shopping ended down 2.29 percent and Hyundai Department Store finished 2.84 percent lower. Banks also slid, with KB Financial Group down 1.87 percent and Woori Finance Holdings shedding 4.44 percent.
"But the earnings outlook for banks is definitely improving and we view today's fall as being in line with the broader markets' corrections," said Lee Hyun-joo, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities. Citigroup said strong earnings growth and sector consolidation would drive banking shares from the second quarter of this year. Decliners outnumbered advancers 612 to 189 with 75 issues ending flat.
Trading volume stood at 356 million shares worth 5.2 trillion won, compared with 377.9 million shares worth 5.15 trillion won on Tuesday. The KOSPI 200 March futures index fell 3.05 points to 219.70, and the KOSPI 200 spot index declined 3.87 points to 219.17. The junior Kosdaq market retreated 0.68 percent to close at 534.46.