S.Korea shares hit by Samsung Electronics woes, won drops

SAMSUNG SDS

11/10/2016 03:24

* Samsung Electronics falls as much as 5 pct 
    * Won drops on dlr strength ahead of Sept Fed minutes 
release 
 
    SEOUL, Oct 11 (Reuters) - South Korean shares came under 
early pressure again on Tuesday on an extended selloff of market 
heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co Ltd  005930.KS  after it 
announced it would halt Galaxy Note 7 sales globally as it 
probes reports of fires.  
    The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)  .KS11  was 
down 0.4 percent at 2,048.29 points as of 0158 GMT. 
    Shares of Samsung Electronics fell as much as 5 percent when 
markets opened, touching their lowest level since Sept. 30, 
2016.  
   The world's top smartphone maker said it had asked all global 
carriers to stop sales of the Note 7s and the exchange of 
original devices for replacements, while it worked with 
regulators to investigate new reports of the device catching 
fire.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1CG3AW urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1CG3IK 
    "It is now key how quickly Samsung Electronics wraps up this 
Note 7 issue, like coming up with a new smartphone model earlier 
than expected," said Bae Sung-young, a stock analyst at Hyundai 
Securities. 
    He added the KOSPI's losses were limited thanks to support 
from gains on Wall Street.  
    Other Samsung Group  SAGR.UL  shares were not affected by 
the smartphone crisis. Samsung SDI Co Ltd  006400.KS  rose 1.8 
percent while Samsung SDS Co Ltd  018260.KS  gained 0.3 percent. 
    Offshore investors were poised to be sellers, offloading a 
net 139.0 billion Korean won ($124.69 million) worth of KOSPI 
shares near mid-session.  
    Advancers and decliners were almost even at 406 to 383. 
    The South Korean won  KRW=  fell as the greenback 
strengthened ahead of the release of U.S. Federal Reserve's 
September policy meeting minutes later this week. 
    The won  KRW=KFTC  stood at 1,115.8 against the dollar, down 
a touch compared with Monday's close of 1,108.4. 
    December futures on three-year treasury bonds  KTBc1  shed 
0.05 point to 110.59.  
     
                       0158 GMT    Prev close 
 Dollar/won             1,115.8       1,108.4 
 Yen/won             10.7321/90       10.6883 
 *KTB futures            110.59        110.64 
 KOSPI                 2,048.29      2,056.82 
 * Front-month futures on three-year treasury bonds 
 
 (Reporting by Dahee Kim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) 
 ((Dahee.Kim@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5643; Reuters 
Messaging: dahee.kim@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: SOUTHKOREA MARKETS/MIDDAY