Seoul stocks seen lower, oil price drop to help

SEOUL, March 5 (Reuters) - Seoul shares will likely start
lower on Wednesday pressured by weak U.S. stocks and continued
global credit market jitters, but a slide in oil prices CLc1
may help airlines and KEPCO (015760.KS: Quote, Profile, Research).

"Investors are not confident about the market's direction
and trading volume has been falling recently," said Hwang
Chang-jung, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.

"Programe trading and the scale of foreign selling will
determine the KOSPI's moves today."

The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday as bank stocks slid on
a broker warning about more losses at Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and
expectations for a rise in mortgage delinquencies.

Oil prices tumbled more than 3 percent to below $100 a
barrel as OPEC prepared to meet in Vienna on Wednesday.

Adding to the grim economic view, South Korea's new finance
minister said late on Tuesday rising inflation is making it
harder for the country to achieve its 6 percent growth target
this year. [ID:nSEO211139]

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished 0.27
percent higher at 1,676.18 points on Tuesday.
----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2234 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1326.75 -0.34% -4.590
USD/JPY <JPY=> 103.42 0.1% 0.100
10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.6299 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD <XAU=> 964.2 0.06% 0.600
US CRUDE CLc1 99.9 -2.49% -2.550
DOW JONES .DJI 12213.80 -0.37% -45.10
-------------------------------------------------------------
MARKETS SUMMARY
*Dow, S&P 500 end down on banks; Nasdaq flat [ID:nN04523257]
*Oil falls 3%, rising US stockpiles outweigh OPEC
[ID:nSP319160]
*Dollar slides on grim US economic outlook [ID:nN04516618]
*U.S. long bond prices fall on Ambac talk [ID:nN04522321]

STOCKS TO WATCH

- Hana Financial Group

Hana Bank, the banking arm of Hana Financial Group
(086790.KS: Quote, Profile, Research), bought shares in Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research) from
Singapore's Temasek in February, the group said after Tuesday's
market close. [ID:nSEO139424]

- Samsung Electronics

Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the largest U.S. appliance
retailer, said on Tuesday that it added Samsung Electronics Co
Ltd (005930.KS: Quote, Profile, Research) refrigerators to its appliance product
offering.
(Reporting by Rhee So-eui, editing by Jacqueline Wong)