Seoul shares tad lower

Seoul shares ended slightly lower on Tuesday, pressured by foreign investor selling for a fourth straight session and declines in technology issues such as Samsung Electronics. Foreign investors were sellers of a net 233 billion won ($213.4 mln) worth of stocks, and were net sellers of 982.1 billion won on the year.
"Foreign investor selling has been intense in the past three sessions, but our view is this is more of a natural readjustment than a longer-term pullback," said Kwak Joong-bo, a market analyst at Samsung Securities. He noted that foreign selling remained modest compared with the large amounts of net buying over the past two years. Foreign investors were net buyers of 21.6 trillion won and 32.4 trillion won worth of stocks in 2010 and 2009, respectively, according to Korea Exchange data.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index finished down 0.08 percent at 2,102.41 points, still well above its 100-day moving average of 2,070 points. "We do not expect a long-term foreign withdrawal from the region, as there are not many better alternatives," Kim said, adding that South Korea had a relatively positive corporate and macroeconomic outlook compared with other developed markets.
Data released earlier this month showed consumer spending remained robust and Korea's finance ministry also forecast the country's current account surplus would widen on continued strength in exports. The KOSPI's 100-day relative strength index (RSI) stands at 53. A level of 70 indicates the market is overbought and 30 shows it is oversold. Starmine data indicated South Korean stocks remained attractive in terms of valuations, with average price-to-book value ratio at 1.6 compared with Asia ex-Japan's 2.2 and average price earnings multiple at 10 versus Asia ex-Japan's 13. Shares in Woori Finance Holdings fell 1.5 percent after South Korea said on Tuesday it would resume the sale of its 57 percent stake in Woori, worth around $6 billion five months after an earlier auction failed due to a lack of interest.