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Korea shares ends lower on telecoms, Kosdaq tumbles

SEOUL: Korean telecom shares plummetted as the over-the-counter Kosdaq market swooned and the main board followed suit to end in negative territory on Monday.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 14.50 points or 1.68 percent at 846.44.

The Kosdaq. over-the-counter market was down 16.84 points or 7.61 percent at 204.43. "Widening losses in the Nasdaq futures index chilled sentiment in the Kosdaq market," said Kim Dae-jung, a strategist at SK Securities.

The June contract in Nasdaq 100 futures was down 57.35 points to 4,400.

High-flying tech shares on the Kosdaq were hit the hardest, with computer telephony integration firm Locus shedding 11.89 percent to 126,000 won.

The weakness in Kosdaq's tech shares, in turn, took a toll on key telecom issues on the main board, analysts said.

Top mobile telecom company SK Telecom fell 6.74 percent to 3.35 million won.

Dacom, a fixed-line telephone and Internet service provider, plummeted 14.62 percent to 257,000 won. Analysts said steady foreign buying of key chip makers prevented a further fall in the main index.

Samsung Electronics chalked up gains as foreign investors pounced on the world's largest memory chip maker.

Investors responded to Warburg Dillon Read Securities upgrading its 12-month target price for Samsung Electronics to 740,000 won from 485,000, analysts said.

Samsung Electronics closed up 5.97 percent at 355,000 won.

Analysts noted several companies including Hyundai Engineering and Construction were bolstered by comments from President Kim Dae-jung, who indicated that closer ties with North Korea, which he would like to foster, could provide business opportunities.

The construction firm rose by the Kospi's daily limit of 15 percent to 4,275 won.

Agricultural chemicals maker Kyungnong also went limit up, ending at 15,200 won. Analysts expect both the main index and over-the-counter shares to remain sluggish on Tuesday as futures indices on Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 0 SP: indicate the direction of performance on Wall Street.

The June contract in the S&P 500 index was down 2.10 points at 1,513.20. June Kospi futures: closed down 2.45 points at 107.55, while the underlying Kospi spot index was down 1.36 points at 106.67.

On the main board, foreign investors bought a net 128.3 billion won worth of shares.

Domestic institutions sold a net 96.8 billion won worth of shares, while retail investors sold a net 27.8 billion won worth.

Trade volume totaled 209.6 million shares, compared with 214.73 million shares on Friday.

Trade was valued at 2.7 trillion won compared with on Friday's 2.85 trillion won.

Decliners led advancers 643 to 199 with 44 shares unchanged. -Reuters