Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: Seoul shares flat, set for strong quarterly finish

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Seoul shares flat, set for strong quarterly finish Mar 30th 2012, 03:50 Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:50pm EDT * Quarterly gains could be most since Q3 of 2010 * KOSPI stuck in range as investors await key events * Profits locked in on recent gainers such as Samsung Elec * POSCO and STX shares advance on purchase of iron ore stake By Joonhee Yu SEOUL, March 30 (Reuters) - Seoul shares were steady on Friday, with investors at the sidelines ahead of a series of key events that could provide clearer market signals, and were poised to end the quarter with their best three-month showing in more than a year. "Momentum is still frozen as it has been for a while, with mixed data signals leaving no real impact whatsoever," said Lee Jae-hoon, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.05 percent at 2,013.88 points as of 0240 GMT. It is up 10.3 percent since the beginning of the year, its best quarterly performance since a 10.2 percent rise in the third quarter of 2010. Investors locked profits on some recently outperforming blue-chips. Samsung Electronics fell 1.3 percent, on course for a three-day skid after hitting a record high on Tuesday. LG Display bounced 0.6 percent after a two-day slide that saw its share price tumble 7.7 percent following news of an LCD tie-up between its rivals Sharp and Hon Hai Precision. POSCO shares rose 1.3 percent after saying its consortium with Marubeni Corp and shipbuilder STX Corp will buy 30 percent of the Roy Hill iron ore project in Australia from Hancock Prospecting for A$3.5 billion ($3.61 billion). STX Corp shares gained 1.1 percent. Shipbuilders extended falls after a sharp decline on Thursday. Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering stumbled 3.4 percent while Samsung Heavy Industries slid 3.2 percent, with analysts pointing to a sobering shift in focus to upcoming first-quarter earnings. Investors will be eyeing European Union finance heads' discussions over the next few days on the region's bailout mechanism as well as China's official March PMI data on Sunday for further market cues. (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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