Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate: Seoul shares fall to 3-mth low after Europe elections

Reuters: Financial Services and Real Estate Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Seoul shares fall to 3-mth low after Europe elections May 7th 2012, 03:00 Sun May 6, 2012 11:00pm EDT * KOSPI down 1.8 pct, tracks other regional markets * Cyclicals lead broad decline * Telecoms post lone rally on dividend appeal -analyst By Joonhee Yu SEOUL, May 7 (Reuters) - Seoul shares tumbled to their lowest in three months on Monday morning, matching broad declines in Asian peers as investors were rocked by jitters about a reversal in Europe's austerity drive following election results in France and Greece. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 1.8 percent at 1,953.38 points at 0207 GMT, a three-month intraday trough. "The defeats suffered (by incumbents in France and Greece) may be the beginning of some hard resistance against the German-led austerity pursuit," said Oh Tae-dong, the chief analyst at Taurus Securities. Sentiment received an additional blow from weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs data on Friday that fueled concerns of a stalling recovery in the world's largest economy. High-beta, cyclical stocks such as shipbuilders and energy counters bore the brunt of the risk flight. Samsung Heavy Industries tumbled 4.9 percent while Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering slumped 4.6 percent. SK Innovation, South Korea's largest crude oil refiner, plunged 5.6 percent while GS Holdings, the parent of the country's second largest refiner, fell 4.6 percent. Greek voters enraged by economic hardship caused by the terms of an international bailout turned on ruling parties in an election on Sunday, putting the country's future in the euro zone at risk and threatening to revive Europe's debt crisis. In France, Socialist Francois Hollande swept to victory in France's presidential election on Sunday over incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy, who was a key advocate of Angela Merkel's fiscal compact, in a swing to the left signaling the beginning of a pushback against German-led austerity policies. Some defensive issues bucked the trend, highlighted by a broad rally in telecommunications issues. KT Corp, South Korea's second largest mobile service provider, soared 6.1 percent while SK Telecom , the country's largest, climbed 3.4 percent. "In addition to the traditional strength of defensives in a bearish market, recent declines in telecom shares that have pushed dividend yields to over 6 percent have boosted their appeal," said Kim Jang-won, an analyst at IBK Securities. (Reporting by Joonhee Yu; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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