Seoul shares down

Seoul shares finished lower on Friday, as global growth fears undermined investors appetite for riskier bets and as the rising price of raw materials looked set to cut into corporate earnings, analysts said. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) ended down 1.31 percent at 1,955.54 points.
Losses led by key large cap issues such as Hyundai Motor and POSCO which fell 3.2 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. "Companies have not passed on higher raw material prices to consumers which has prompted a downgrade in the market forecast on the first-quarter earnings," said Choi Un-sun, a strategist at LIG Investment & Securities.
Korea's consumer price inflation surged to a 27-month high of 4.5 percent in February from a year earlier. And Samsung Electronics, the world's No 1 memory chip maker, also finished down 0.5 percent, paring earlier gains. Foreign investors sold a net worth 508.8 billion won ($452.1 million) of stocks, offloading shares for a fifth consecutive session. Institutions were buyers of a net 222 billion won.
Construction issues dragged down the market amid persistent worries over mounting tensions in the Middle East before a day of protest in Saudi Arabia. Shares in Hyundai Engineering & Construction fell 2 percent and Daewoo Engineering & Construction lost 3 percent. Shipbuilders retreated, with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering plunging 3.9 percent.
While other technology shares remained weak, LG Display recouped some of recent losses, ending up 2.2 percent. The KOSPI 200 March futures index ended down 4.05 points at 257.55. The KOSPI 200 spot index fell 3.76 points to 256.83. The junior Kosdaq market fell 0.69 percent to 518.55.