Seoul shares seen lower on oil, credit worries

 SEOUL, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Seoul shares may fall on Friday on
higher oil prices and falls in U.S. peers overnight on credit
worries after big losses by a major U.S. insurer, while an
interest rate rise by Korea's central bank on Thursday
continues to hurt sentiment.

 Financials such as Kookmin Bank (060000.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Shinhan
Financial Group (055550.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may retreat. Demand for such stocks
is likely to be dented by news of larges losses from American
International Group (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) that knocked Wall Street financials
sharply lower.

 Shares that are sensitive to energy prices such as Korean
Air Line (003490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Hyundai Motor (005380.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) may also
decline after U.S. crude CLc1 rose above $120 per barrel on
Thursday.

 "Gains in oil, share falls in the U.S., and the South
Korean central bank's rate hike decision yesterday will weigh
on the markets today," said Lee Jae-mahn, a market strategist
at Tong Yang Securities.

 "Negative market factors are again all on the table.
Construction issues, banks, and other domestic consumption
issues will come under heavier pressure," Lee said.

 The Korea Composite Stock Price Index  closed down
0.93 percent at 1,564.00 points on Thursday.
 ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2244 GMT ------------

                  INSTRUMENT   LAST       PCT CHG   NET CHG
 S&P 500             .SPX       1266.07     -1.79%   -23.120
 USD/JPY             <JPY=>       109.36       0.04%     0.040
 10-YR US TSY YLD    <US10YT=RR>  3.9276          --     0.000
 SPOT GOLD           <XAU=>       872.7        0.17%     1.500
 US CRUDE            CLc1       119.84      -0.15%    -0.180
 DOW JONES           .DJI       11431.43    -1.93%   -224.64
 ASIA ADRS           .BKAS      138.44      -2.89%     -4.12
 -------------------------------------------------------------

 MARKET SUMMARY

 *AIG, Wal-Mart spark sell-off on Wall Street
[ID:nN07352729]

 *Oil rises on pipeline fire in Turkey [ID:nSIN303551]

 *Dollar gains on strong housing data, ECB rate view
[ID:nN07506564]

 *Treasuries rally on weak economy, strong action
[ID:nN07333811]

 STOCKS TO WATCH

 MEMORY CHIP MAKERS

 Japan's Elpida Memory Inc (6665.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's No.3 memory
chip maker, on Thursday reported a bigger-than-expected
quarterly loss amid slackening demand for memory chips, but it
hiked its shipments outlook.[ID:nT365667]

 POSCO (005490.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), SK TELECOM (017670.KS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)

 The world's No.4 steelmaker was on Thursday selling 52.8
billion yen ($482.2 million) worth of bonds exchangeable for
U.S. listed shares in SK Telecom, a source familiar with the
deal said.[ID:nHKG333588]

 (Reporting by Park Jung-youn; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)