Seoul shares close up on techs, end two-week losing streak

* KOSPI lifted by blue-chips, bargain-hunt for laggards

* Samsung Elec at all-time closing high on record Q1 profit

* Builders, shipyards snap multi-day losing spells

By Joonhee Yu

SEOUL, April 27 (Reuters) - Seoul shares rose on Friday,
propped up by blue-chip heavyweights such as Samsung Electronics
, but gains were capped on persistent fears over the
euro zone debt crisis after S&P downgraded Spain's credit
rating.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose
0.58 percent to close at 1,975.35 points, posting a 0.03 percent
gain from last Friday's close to narrowly snap a two-week slide.

"While robust earnings in some sectors helped shore up
confidence, investors are still nervous about increasing their
risk exposure with an air of uncertainty over euro zone debt
lurking in the background," said Lee Young-gon, an analyst at
Hana-Daetoo Securities.

Standard & Poor's on Thursday cut its credit rating on Spain
by two notches, citing expectations that government finances
will deteriorate even more than previously thought due to a
contracting economy and an ailing banking sector.

Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 2.5
percent to post a four-day winning streak and an all-time
closing high after the company announced a record $5.15 billion
first-quarter profit.

Samsung Electronics' market capitalization exceeded 200
trillion won ($176 billion) for the first time on Friday, a
weight of nearly 18 percent in the KOSPI index.

Among other tech shares, display and battery maker Samsung
SDI soared 7.5 percent, while memory chip giant SK
Hynix rose 3.1 percent.

Bargain bids targeted recent underperformers, helping
shipyards and builders rebound after multi-day losing spells
with Samsung Heavy Industries advancing 3.7 percent
and Daelim Industrial gaining 3.41 percent.

Foreign investors were active bidders for a second day
running, gobbling up a net 306.9 billion won ($270.09 million)
worth of shares, the largest single-day net buying session since
late March.

However, some analysts have cautioned that this latest surge
in offshore funds could be short-lived due to tightened
liquidity in European banks.

"Cash inflow from Europe was one of the main pillars of the
equities rally seen at the beginning of the year, but with
European banks undergoing deleveraging and mandatory debt
restructuring, it's going to be difficult to replicate that
rally in the near term," said Kim Seung-han, an analyst at HI
Investment & Securities.

Turnover stood at 5.28 trillion won ($4.65 billion), a
little lower than Thursday, while winning stocks outnumbered
losers 422 to 394.

The large-cap benchmark KOSPI 200 index rose 0.73
percent while the KOSDAQ gained 0.52 percent.

Move on day +0.58 percent

12-month high 2,231.47 27 April 2011

12-month low 1,644.11 26 Sept 2011

Change on yr +8.19 percent

All-time high 2,231.47 27 April 2011

All-time low 93.10 6 January 1981
($1 = 1136.3000 Korean won)

(Reporting by Joonhee Yu; Editing by Nick Macfie)