Seoul shares seen higher; eyes on China

SEOUL, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may start off in
positive territory on Monday after rises on Wall Street, but eyes
will likely be on China as Shanghai shares reopen after a
week-long holiday.

"U.S. stocks' reaction to the Fed discount rate hike was not
as bad as feared, and shares will probably manage to regain a
significant chunk of last session's losses," said Bae Sung-young,
a market analyst at Hyundai Securities.

Eyes will be on Chinese stock markets as they reopen after
the Lunar New Year holiday, analysts said.

Department store operators including Lotte Shopping
(023530.KS) could be followed after data showed annual sales
growth at South Korea's top three department stores in January
hit its lowest in six months.[ID:nTOE61I043]

Energy price sensitive issues such as Korean Air Line
(003490.KS) may react to continued gains in crude prices CLc1.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index .KS11 (KOSPI)
finished down 1.68 percent to 1,593.90 on Friday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2251 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1109.17 0.22% 2.420
USD/JPY JPY= 91.63 0.16% 0.150
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 3.7764 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD XAU= 1117.5 0.00% 0.000
US CRUDE CLc1 79.81 0.00% 0.750
DOW JONES .DJI 10402.35 0.09% 9.45
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 124.41 -1.10% -1.39
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKET SUMMARY
*Wall St edges up but rate worries linger [nN19117700]
*Oil rises toward $80 on refinery strikes, Iran [nSGE61I077]
*Dollar climbs after Fed discount rate hike [nN19120591]
*Treasuries turn positive, rate-hike anxiety eases [nN19199467]

STOCKS TO WATCH

AUTO ISSUES

President Barack Obama will not submit a free trade agreement
with South Korea to Congress for a vote until Seoul does more to
open its auto market, the top U.S. trade official said on
Friday.[ID:nN19124013]

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)