SEOUL (Reuters) - Seoul shares are set to dip on Thursday, tracking falls in U.S. and European equity markets after minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's July meeting did not alter expectations that the bank would begin tapering its bond-buying programme soon.
"The fall in global markets will be reflected in the morning, but the extent of the decline will be limited as most of the external cues are already priced in," said Daishin Securities analyst Park Jung-seop.
The HSBC China purchasing managers' index data, due at 0500 GMT, will be closely watched. Park said the data will likely help the chemical sector <.KRXENER> rebound after the subindex lost 4.4 percent over the past two trading days.
Foreign investors were net sellers of Seoul stocks on Wednesday, offloading 144.4 billion won in the spot market. They also sold 12,187 contracts worth 400 billion won in the futures market.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) <.KS11> fell 20.39 points to 1,867.46 points on Wednesday, its weakest close since July 16.
--------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 22:40 GMT----------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 <.SPX> 1,642.80 -0.58% -9.550
USD/JPY 97.79 0.13% 0.130 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.892 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD $1,364.51 -0.09% -1.230
US CRUDE $103.80 -0.05% -0.050
DOW JONES <.DJI> 14897.55 -0.70% -105.44
ASIA ADRS <.BKAS> 137.08 -1.75% -2.44
---------------------------------------------------------------> Wall St falls after Fed minutes yield few clues <.N> >Yields rise as Fed pullback seen on track
STOCKS TO WATCH
LG CHEM LTD <051910.KS>
The company on Wednesday announced a deal with Japan's Softbank Mobile to supply uninterruptable power supply (UPS) lithium-ion batteries for base stations.
PIOLINK INC <170790.KQ>
South Korean database company said its second-quarter operating profit rose to 1.1 billion won, a 29.4 percent year-on-year increase.
(Reporting by Jungmin Jang; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
