SEOUL: Seoul shares traded nearly flat on Monday with investors pausing after sharp gains in recent sessions, with falls in banks and retailers including KB Financial Group and Lotte Shopping weighing on the market.
"At the index's current level near its 120-day moving average, upside momentum has weakened as investors do not see compelling reasons to buy more," said Lee Jae-hoon, a market analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.
"The worst fears about Europe have eased, but this is still an ongoing process. The market wants to see progress and details, such as how much help it gets from emerging economies and the IMF," Lee added.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said in a newspaper interview the euro zone sovereign debt crisis was not yet over and that it was too early for the all-clear signal.
Europe should not expect China to ride to the rescue as its "saviour" from the debt crisis, though Beijing will do what it can to help a friend in need, state-run news agency Xinhua said on a commentary on Sunday.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.14 percent at 1,932.23 points as of 0152 GMT, hovering below its 120-day moving average of around 1,965 points.
Lotte Shopping Co Ltd, South Korea's No.1 retailer, declined 2.5 percent after five sessions of gains, and Shinsegae Co Ltd shed 2.8 percent.
KB Financial Group fell 2.8 percent after two straight gaining sessions, and Shinhan Financial Group lost 1.7 percent.
Shares in LG Display , the world's No.2 flat panel maker, fell 1 percent after South Korea's antitrust regulator said on Sunday it had fined 10 Korean and Taiwanese thin-film transistor (TFT)-liquid crystal display (LCD) makers including LG Display a total of 194 billion won ($176 million) for fixing product prices.
Memory chip makers outperformed, helped by gains in US Philadelphia semiconductor index .
Samsung Electronics , the world's No.1 memory chip maker, rose 2.4 percent and Hynix Semiconductor , the world's No.2, advanced 0.9 percent.
Daelim Industrial climbed 1.7 percent after the company said on Monday it had received a 1.4 trillion won ($1.3 billion) order to build a power plant for state-controlled Saudi Electricity.
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