South Korean stocks inched down 0.05 percent on Thursday as lingering jitters over the eurozone debt crisis outweighed recent positive U.S. economic data and prompted investors to take a breather following the previous session’s rally, analysts said. The local currency fell against the U.S. dollar.

After surging around 3 percent on Wednesday, the benchmark KOSPI dipped 0.92 points to 1,847.49. Trading volume was moderate at 400.2 million shares worth 3.08 trillion won ($2.67 billion), with decliners outnumbering gainers 411 to 383.

“The European Central Bank’s euro lending policy failed to calm investors amid persisting fears over sovereign rating downgrades,” said Park Sung-hun, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities Co.

On Wednesday, the ECB unleashed 489.2 billion euros to 523 European banks as part of a longer-term refinancing operation, but the move failed to become a game-changer and boost global stock markets.

“Recent positive data from the United States, however, helped limit losses. The KOSPI is likely to move in a tight range until the end of the year amid a mix of good and bad factors,” said Park.

Shares closed mixed. Steel giant POSCO gained 0.64 percent to 391,500 won after announcing plans to boost the annual output of its Thai plant to 300,000 tons by 2015.

Builders also fared well on long-term hopes they may benefit from infrastructure construction demand when inter-Korean relations improves. Industry leader Hyundai Engineering & Construction added 1.69 percent to 72,000 won and Daewoo Engineering & Construction rose 2.5 percent to 10,250 won.

Defensive shares gathered ground. State-run tobacco distributor KT&G jumped 3.28 percent to 81,900 won and confectionery heavyweight Orion advanced 2.64 percent to 662,000 won.

In contrast, techs ended in negative territory following sharp gains in the previous session. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.47 percent to 1,052,000 won and No. 2 chipmaker Hynix Semiconductor lost 0.94 percent to 21,150 won.

Top mobile carrier SK Telecom ended at 151,500 won, down 0.98 percent from the previous close.

The local currency ended at 1,156.2 won to the greenback, down 8.5 won from Wednesday’s close amid nagging concerns over the eurozone’s capacity to cope with its debt crisis, dealers said. 

(Yonhap News)