Seoul shares seen down as recession worries deepen

SEOUL, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Seoul shares are likely to open
lower on Friday as concerns about global economic stagnation
deepen on debt problems in Europe and an increasingly grim U.S.
and Chinese economic outlook.

"We will probably see significant falls today, with the
index hitting around the 1,750 point level," said Hong Soon-pyo,
a market analyst at Daishin Securities.

"There is not much progress so far in Europe, and we are
only hearing bad news on both the credit and economic fronts
right now," Hong said, adding that outflow of foreign capital
may ensue.

World leaders and finance chiefs on Thursday pushed Europe
to quell its debt crisis and big emerging economies said they
might provide more money to help stop the chaos from
spreading.

Analysts said demand for safer assets such as the U.S.
dollar would likely continue to grow, potentially fuelling
volatility in the local foreign exchange market and causing
swings in Seoul stocks as well.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished down
2.9 percent at 1,800.55 points on Thursday.

------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 22:26 GMT------------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 1,129.56 -3.19% -37.200
USD/JPY 76.26 -0% 0.000
10-YR US TSY YLD 1.718 -- -0.138
SPOT GOLD $1,739.79 0.26% 4.460
US CRUDE CLc1 $80.67 0.20% 0.160
DOW JONES 10733.83 -3.51% -391.01
ASIA ADRS 110.04 -4.20% -4.83
---------------------------------------------------------------M
rket Summary
>Market's 3 percent fall suggests deepening worry
>U.S. debt rallies as stock plunge spurs safety bid
>Dollar climbs as global gloom boost safe-haven bid
>Brent crude ends at 6-week low on recession worry

STOCKS TO WATCH

HYNIX SEMICONDUCTOR

The world's No.2 memory chip maker said on Thursday that it
would invest 575 billion won ($500 million) to upgrade two
semiconductor production lines and for research and
development.

SAMSUNG C&T

South Korean trading firm Samsung C&T said on Thursday that
it was in discussions to purchase independent U.S. oil company
Parallel Petroleum, which is owned by private equity group
Apollo Global Management LLC .

SHIPPING COMPANIES

Shipping firms like STX Pan Ocean could be
helped by a more than 4 percent gain in the Baltic Dry Index
, which measures the cost of shipping key commodities.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)