Seoul shares seen lower; eyes on won, financials

SEOUL, March 3 (Reuters) - Seoul shares are set to fall on
Tuesday after big overnight losses on Wall Street on worsening
fears about U.S. financials after insurer AIG posted a record
quarterly loss, with eyes also on the sliding won.

"Things are going from bad to worse. The won is plunging,
which does far more harm than good as there are a lot more
companies carrying foreign currency debts than there are
beneficiaries of a weaker won," said Lee Jae-mahn, a market
analyst at Tong Yang Securities.

"The U.S. financial sector is also a big mess. I don't think
anyone knows for sure how many more bailouts financial
institutions will need (and) the uncertainty is weighing heavily
on sentiment," Lee said, adding that the main index could fall
below 1,000 in the near future.

American International Group Inc (AIG.N) posted a record
$61.7 billion quarterly loss on Monday and got a new but not
necessarily final government bailout. [ID:nN02363433]

Meanwhile the won KRW= hit an 11-year low against the
dollar on Monday. Traders said late on Monday that South Korea's
foreign exchange authorities sold an estimated up to $1 billion
to help the currency curb its losses. [ID:nSEO342908]

But easier oil CLc1, which dropped 10 percent overnight,
may help lift some issues sensitive to energy prices, such as
Korean Air Line (003490.KS). [ID:nL2397521]

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended
down 4.16 percent at 1,018.81 points on Monday, its lowest close
since early December.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2252 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 700.82 -4.66% -34.270
USD/JPY JPY= 97.28 -0.23% -0.220
10-YR US TSY YLD US10YT=RR 2.8643 -- -0.156
SPOT GOLD XAU= 925 -0.04% -0.350
US CRUDE CLc1 40.15 0.00% -4.610
DOW JONES .DJI 6763.29 -4.24% -299.64
ASIA ADRS .BKAS 74.93 -4.97% -3.92
-------------------------------------------------------------

MARKET SUMMARY
*Stocks slide worldwide on AIG news, oil plummets [ID:nN02421745]
*Oil drops 10 pct as economic gloom outweighs OPEC [ID:nL2397521]
*Dollar gains as gloom boosts safe-haven appeal [ID:nN02582814]
*Treasuries rally in safety bids as Wall St tanks [ID:nN02421603]

STOCKS TO WATCH

MEDIA ISSUES

Ruling and opposition parties reached an agreement on
revisions to media laws, a local business daily reported on
Tuesday. The revisions could allow broadcasters to air
commercials more frequently between programmes.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)