SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Seoul shares moved in and out of positive territory on Tuesday amid sustained caution over Dubai's financial woes and the global economic outlook. Shipyards and energy issues weighed on the market.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 0.02 percent at 1,555.97 points as of 0144 GMT.
Analysts said unfounded rumours that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had died, briefly shook the market, sending the benchmark index down as much as 0.9 percent after an earlier gain of nearly 0.8 percent.
'There were rumours that Kim Jong-il was dead, started by some unreliable reports, but I have to say this is nonsense. However the fact that markets reacted negatively, albeit briefly, implies that sentiment is fragile.' said Lee Sun-yeop, a market analyst at Shinhan Investment Corporation.
'Broader economic concerns still exist. U.S. Black Friday weekend consumer spending came out lower than hoped, pointing to weakness in U.S. consumption,' said Lawrence Kim, a market analyst at Woori Investment & Securities.
Foreign investors were buyers of a net 72 billion won ($61.99 million) worth of stocks, while domestic institutions were sellers of a net 40.6 billion won.
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering fell 2.09 percent and STX Offshore & Shipbuilding lost 1.3 percent, pressured by losses in the Baltic Dry Index, which tracks the cost of shipping key commodities.
Energy issues also retreated. SK Energy, South Korea's top crude refiner, was down 2.29 percent and GS Holdings , holding company of the country's No.2 crude refiner, was down 0.95 percent.
But banking issues rose, continuing to recover from big falls last week. KB Financial Group was up 1.21 percent and Shinhan Financial Group rose 0.88 percent.
LG Display rallied 4.37 percent amid a solid outlook for the remainder of the year and first half of next year, on the back of strong LCD television sales, analysts said.
'Global LCD television sales have been pretty strong, particularly in China. U.S. sales during the Black Friday weekend have still to be tallied, but I am hearing online shopping numbers there are coming out quite good,' said Lee Min-hee, an analyst at Dongbu Securities.
'On the back of solid sales, we think LCD panel pricing will rebound following recent falls. Looking ahead to 2010, first-half pricing will be solid, helped also by the World Cup,' Lee added.
Carmakers also rose, with Hyundai Motor up 2.02 percent and Kia Motors gaining 1.75 percent.
Ssangyong Motor were up 6.27 percent.
(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Chris Lewis)
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