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By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
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Seoul shares down 6.7 pct, as banks, Hynix tank
Reuters - 40 minutes ago
*KOSPI down 6.7 pct
*Banks tank, Hynix tumbles on sectoral worries
*Defensive issues outperform
By Park Jung-youn
SEOUL, Nov 20 - Seoul shares ended 6.7 percent lower on Thursday, with some banks sliding by nearly the daily 15 percent limit on renewed credit crunch fears and Hynix Semiconductor <000660.KS> down on deepening sectoral worries.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index <.KS11> closed 68.13 points lower at 948.69 points, half the level at which it finished 2007 and within sight of the late October low of 892 points, itself the lowest since January 2005.
The index has fallen for an 8th straight session and has lost more than 18 percent since Monday last week.
"The biggest reason for today's drop is massive falls seen in the U.S. index, and worries that global economic downturn will eventually cause asset prices to undergo massive cuts," said Lee Jae-mahn, a market analyst at Tong Yang Securities.
Citigroup's latest battering on U.S. markets has stoked up concerns of another leg to the credit crunch.
"There is talk trickling out in markets that Citigroup is headed for even more serious trouble, and fears that a new wave of the credit crisis may be coming on is weighing heavily on sentiment, sending local banks sharply lower," said Kim Hak-kyun, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities.
Shares in Citigroup <C.N> had closed down 23 percent on Wednesday in Wall Street.
BANKS SPANKED
Banks took the biggest hits in the Seoul market with KB Financial Group <105560.KS> down 14.9 percent and Hana Financial Group <086790.KS> down 14.72 percent. Woori Finance <053000.KS> dropped 10.6 percent.
"U.S. indexes have already fallen below their Oct lows, and there is no saying the South Korean index won't," Kim added.
Japan's Nikkei <.N225> ended down 6.89 percent and Taiwan stocks <.TWII> finished 4.53 percent lower.
Weakness in the won currency in early morning trade, dragging the won back to nearly to the levels seen during the Asian currency crisis of the late 1990s, also weighed, according to Yun Lee, a market analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.
South Korea's won set the weakest local close in nearly 11 years against the dollar on Thursday.
Hynix, the world's No.2 memory chip maker, fell the 15 percent limit after a negative rating by Swiss brokerage UBS. Concerns rival computer memory firms in Taiwan could receive government support, which could worsen a chip supply glut, also weighed, according to analysts.
Samsung Electronics <066570.KS>, its larger rival and the world's No.1 memory chip maker, fared better as it does not depend solely on the memory chip business, losing 3.42 percent.
"Hynix has been the subject of heavy foreign selling as foreign hedge funds in particular rush to convert their holdings into cash as they themselves are experiencing severe financial distress," said Kim Gee-soo, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan.
"While pension funds are lending support to Samsung Elec, the No.1 player in memory chip market, Hynix, as the runner-up...is being cut loose," Kim added.
Meanwhile defensive issues outperformed the benchmark index as investors sought companies whose products are seen in demand even during harsh economic times.
South Korean tobacco monopoly KT&G <033780.KS> gained 1.1 percent and Yuhan <000100.KS>, a leading pharmarceutical firm, ended 0.72 percent higher.
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