SINGAPORE, July 26 (Reuters) - Gold edged lower on Thursday
after hitting a three-week high in the previous session, as the
euro retreated from gains sparked by expectations that the
European Central Bank may consider leveraging the region's
rescue fund.

FUNDAMENTALS
* Spot gold inched down 0.2 percent to $1,601.21 an
ounce by 0028 GMT, after rallying nearly 1.5 percent on
Wednesday -- its biggest one-day rise since late June.
* U.S. gold futures contract for August delivery lost
nearly half a percent to $1,600.40.
* European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald
Nowotny has broken ranks with ECB colleagues, saying that giving
Europe's permanent rescue fund a banking licence to increase its
capacity had merits.
* The euro eased against the dollar on Thursday, after
Nowotny's comments triggered a flurry of short-covering and
helped the euro rebound from a two-year low against the
greenback in the previous session.
* Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook on the
provisional (P)Aaa long-term rating of the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF) to negative from stable, a blow to a
fund that was supposed to backstop struggling EU members.

* Spain paid the second highest yield on short-term debt
since the birth of the euro at an auction on Tuesday, and EU
officials said Greece had little hope of meeting the terms of
its bailout, casting fresh doubt on its future in the euro zone.

* U.S. Treasuries eased marginally on Wednesday as
expectations central banks will have to move further to stem
slowing economic growth spurred some tentative buying of riskier
assets, at the cost of lower-risk U.S. government debt.
* For the top stories on metals and other news, click
, or

MARKET NEWS
* The S& P 500 fell for a fourth day and the Nasdaq dropped
on Wednesday after a rare earnings stumble from Apple, while
strong results from Boeing and Caterpillar lifted the Dow.


DATA/EVENTS
0800 EZ Money-M3 3m moving av June
1230 U.S. Durable goods orders June
1230 U.S. Jobless claims Weekly
1400 U.S. Pending home sales June

PRICES
Precious metals prices 0028 GMT
Metal Last Change Pct chg YTD pct chg Volume
Spot Gold 1601.21 -2.67 -0.17 2.39
Spot Silver 27.26 -0.06 -0.22 -1.55
Spot Platinum 1392.00 0.35 +0.03 -0.07
Spot Palladium 560.83 -1.17 -0.21 -14.05
COMEX GOLD AUG2 1600.40 -7.70 -0.48 2.14 1887
COMEX SILVER SEP2 27.23 -0.24 -0.88 -2.47 837
Euro/Dollar 1.2126
Dollar/Yen 78.09
COMEX gold and silver contracts show the most active months


(Reporting by Rujun Shen Editing by Himani Sarkar)

* Apple shares fall after the closing bell on rare revenue miss

  * UPS cuts 2012 outlook, Texas instruments warns on Q3

  * Cisco falls on VMWare move

  * Indexes: Dow down 0.8 pct, S& P down 0.9 pct, Nasdaq off 0.9 pct

  By Caroline Valetkevitch

  NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday, hit by signs the euro zone crisis is worsening and evidence that Europe's slowdown is hurting U.S. companies, including bellwether UPS.

  The decline was the third straight for the S& P 500 index, which tested its 50-day moving average, a technical support level which could trigger more selling if convincingly broken.

  Stocks got a lift late in the session after the Wall Street Journal said Federal Reserve officials were moving closer to taking new steps to spur activity and hiring. Fed officials recently have spelled out what measures they might take, including Chairman Ben Bernanke in a speech last week.

  After the market's close, S& P 500 and Nasdaq futures fell on disappointing results from Apple, which reported quarterly revenue below analysts' expectations. Apple's shares fell 4.8 percent to $572.12 in extended-hours trading.

  During the regular session, United Parcel Service, seen by many as a proxy for economic activity, fell 4.6 percent to $74.34 after reporting quarterly results that missed forecasts and cut its 2012 outlook, citing uncertain global economic conditions. UPS helped pull the Dow Jones Transportation average down 1.2 percent.

  " We are going through an adjustment period where there has been a lot of talk about Europe facing a recession in 2012. Now we are actually seeing it in the earnings and the market is reacting to that," said Gail Dudack, chief investment strategist at Dudack Research Group in New York.

  The struggles of the U.S. and euro zone economies intensified in July, surveys showed on Tuesday. Europe's private sector looked set for a prolonged slump as the surveys showed the downturn that began in the euro zone's small economies has since become entrenched in Germany and France.

  Concerns about the euro zone grew after Spain was forced to pay the second highest yield on short-term debt since the launch of the euro and European Union officials said Greece had little hope of meeting the terms of its bailout.

  AT& T Inc lost 2.1 percent to $34.63 after the company reduced its outlook for business services this year. The S& P telecom index dropped 1.8 percent.

  Whirlpool Corp slumped 7.5 percent to $62.25 after the world's largest appliance maker missed Wall Street's expectations for quarterly earnings and sales, hurt by weak demand in Europe and a stronger dollar.

  The Dow Jones industrial average was down 104.14 points, or 0.82 percent, at 12,617.32. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 12.21 points, or 0.90 percent, at 1,338.31. The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 27.16 points, or 0.94 percent, at 2,862.99.

  The Fed says it is still considering a third bout of quantitative easing, or QE3, and some analysts expect recent weakness in the U.S. economy could prompt policymakers to launch such a program as early as September.

  " Given the events going on around the world, I think the odds are increasing the Fed will take action at one of the next two meetings," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist, RDM Financial, Westport, Connecticut.

  Of the 145 companies in the S& P 500 that have reported earnings for the quarter, 66.9 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, Thomson Reuters data showed. Over the past four quarters, 68 percent have beaten estimates.

  Cisco Systems Inc fell 5.9 percent to $15.12 after VMWare Inc said it would acquire privately held Nicira Inc, a move seen as a threat to Cisco's core switching and routing business.

  In another sign of the economic malaise from Europe, Texas Instruments Inc warned that its third-quarter revenue would be weaker as customers show caution due to global uncertainties. The shares lost 0.9 percent to $26.57.

  Spanish five-year government bond yields rose above 10-year yields for the first time since June 2001 as investors fretted about the possibility that Madrid may need a full-blown sovereign bailout. The 10-year note last traded at around 7.6 percent.

  Volume was about 6.71 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and Amex, compared with the year-to-date daily average of 6.74 billion shares.

  Decliners beat advancers on the NYSE by about 22 to 7. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers about 17 to 7.

SINGAPORE, July 25 (Reuters) - Shares of Asia's largest hospital operator IHH Healthcare Bhd opened 9.6 percent higher than its initial public offering price in its Singapore trading debut.

  At 0101 GMT, IHH Healthcare shares were traded at S$1.22, compared to its Singapore IPO price of S$1.113.

  IHH, which has a dual listing in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, raised $2.1 billion, making it the world's third largest IPO this year after Facebook and Malaysia's plantation firm Felda Global Ventures Holdings. (Reporting by Charmian Kok Editing by Alex Richardson)

HONG KONG, July 25 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares are set for
a third straight day of losses on Wednesday on deepenening
worries that Spain might need a bailout, renewed concerns about
Greece's finances as well as a slew of corporate earning misses.
Major companies such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd,
the world's second-largest telecommunications gear maker and
Apple Inc have disappointed with earnings results,
which are likely to weigh on technology and telcommunication
stocks.
Huawei Technologies posted a 22 percent fall in first-half
operating profit, saying the global economy and the telecoms
equipment market posed significant challenges.
Its results follow a profit warning from China's ZTE Corp
that largely reflects sluggish telecom
spending amid a global economic slowdown.
On Tuesday, the Hang Seng Index closed down 0.8
percent at 18,903.2, its lowest close since June 25. The China
Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings in Hong
Kong ended down 0.6 percent at 9,217.2.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei and South Korea's
KOSPI were each down 1.5 percent at 0052 GMT.

FACTORS TO WATCH:
* Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, a blue chip property
developer controlled by billionaire Li Ka-Shing, said on
Wednesday it will team up with Cheung Kong Infrastructure
Holdings Ltd, Power Assets Holdings Ltd and
Li Ka Shing Foundation Ltd to buy UK gas firm Wales and West
Utilities for 645 million pounds ($1 billion).
* Trading in shares of billionaire Li Ka-Shing controlled
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd was suspended
on Wednesday before trade opened, the Hong Kong stock Exchange
said. It gave no further details on the suspension.
Cheung Kong Infrastructure plans a share placement to raise
up to $307 million for general working capital, according to a
term sheet for the deal seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

* Anglo American has agreed to buy a majority stake
in a coal project in Mozambique for $555 million. The miner said
it had agreed to buy a 58.9 percent stake in the Minas de
Revuboe project, a deposit sandwiched between a mine owned by
Brazil's Vale and a Rio Tinto
project.
* Shares of Brazilian miner Vale sank on
Tuesday, a day after the company said its chief financial
officer would step down a day before second quarter results are
expected to be posted.
* Canada will study Chinese oil company CNOOC Ltd's
bid for Nexen Inc carefully and no one should
make assumptions about whether the proposed takeover will be
approved, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Tuesday.

* Pan-Asian insurer AIA Group Ltd has secured
between $6 billion and $8 billion in financing commitments from
eight banks to back its planned bid for ING Group NV's
Asian insurance operations, Thomson Reuters publication basis
point reported on Tuesday.
* Husky Energy Inc, Canada's No.3 integrated oil
producer and refiner, reported a 36 percent fall in
second-quarter profit on lower production and weaker realized
crude oil prices. Husky, is controlled by Hong Kong billionaire
Li Ka-shing, chairman of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd.
* A former HSBC employee accused of
stealing data on up to 24,000 secret Swiss accounts from the
British lender and handing them to the French tax authorities
has been arrested in Spain on a request by Swiss authorities
seeking his extradition.
* GOME Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd said on
Tuesday it expected to post a net loss for the first half of
2012 due to drop in sales revenue and losses attributable to
its e-commerce business.

(Reporting by Clement Tan and Donny Kwok Editing by Edwina
Gibbs)

* Heineken's $6 bln bid comes after Thai bid

  * Kirin also weighing its options - sources

  * APB shares surge 18 pct to record, F& N up 5 pct (Adds Goldman's role)

  By Saeed Azhar and Eveline Danubrata

  SINGAPORE, July 23 (Reuters) - Singapore conglomerate Fraser and Neave (F& N) has hired Goldman Sachs to weigh Heineken NV's $6 billion bid for Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) as the takeover battle for the maker of Tiger Beer intensifies, sources said.

  The tussle for Southeast Asia's biggest beer maker comes amid a wave of industry consolidation and expanding beer sales in emerging markets, although APB's ownership structure makes this among the most complicated assets to buy.

  Heineken's proposal on Friday completed a frenetic week for F& N, whose joint venture with the Dutch brewer has a 65 percent controlling stake in APB.

  Heineken offered to buy out F& N's interest in APB after Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp and an affiliated group said they had received a $3 billion bid for their stakes in F& N and APB from companies linked to Thai billionaire and founder of Thai Beverage PCL, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi.

  APB, whose shares surged as much as 18 percent to a record on Monday, was still trading below Heineken's offer of S$50 a share because of uncertainty over whether the deal would go through.

  F& N, whose shares rose about 5 percent, said its board was considering Heineken's offer.

  F& N was not immediately available to comment on Goldman's role as its financial advisor, while a spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.

  " There's still some uncertainty as it is not clear how F& N will react to the offer," said Goh Han Peng, an analyst at DMG & Partners Securities.

  " If the F& N shareholders do not accept the offer from Heineken, they may come up with a hostile offer for APB, meaning they will go to the minority shareholders. The second way is to go directly to F& N and mount a takeover because shares in APB are very illiquid."

  Nomura raised its target price on F& N to S$9.16 from S$8.08 and maintained its neutral rating. Nomura said if F& N accepts Heineken's offer, it will reap cash proceeds of about S$5.2 billion but lose an important contributor to its earnings.

  Without APB, F& N will have a smaller food and beverage business comprising its ASEAN soft drinks and dairies businesses, Nomura said. But the Singapore conglomerate, which also owns a property division, will have additional cash of S$5.2 billion, or S$3.66 per share, part of which could be paid as a special dividend, according to Nomura.

  Heineken's rivals, Thai Beverage PCL and Japan's Kirin Holdings Co Ltd, are unlikely to readily let the world's third-largest brewer take control of a beer empire stretching from Mongolia to New Zealand, analysts said.

  Kirin, which holds 14.7 percent of F& N, is also weighing its options, sources familiar with the matter said, declining to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

  " Without APB, Kirin and ThaiBev may push for a demerger of the property business so the businesses can be valued separately and control for the F& B and property assets settled accordingly," Nomura said. ($1 = 1.2569 Singapore dollars) (Editing by Ryan Woo)

* IMF, EU inspectors expected on Tuesday

  * Greece appealing for more time on cuts, EU wants to stick to targets

  * Spiegel reports IMF threat to abstain from any new funding

  ATHENS, July 22 (Reuters) - Greece is in a " Great Depression" similar to the American one in the 1930s, the country's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday.

  Samaras was speaking two days before a team of Greece's international lenders arrive in Athens to push for further cuts needed for the debt-laden country to qualify for further rescue payments and avoid a chaotic default.

  Athens wants to soften the terms of a 130-billion euro bailout agreed last March with the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, to soften their impact on an economy going through its worst post-war recession.

  By the end of this year Greek GDP is expected to have shrunk by about a fifth in five consecutive years of recession since 2008, hammered by tax hikes, spending cuts and wage reductions required by two EU/IMF bailouts. Unemployment climbed to a record 22.6 percent in the first quarter.

  " You had the Great Depression in the United States," Samaras told Clinton, who was visiting Greece as part of a delegation of Greek-American businessmen. " This is exactly what we're going through in Greece - it's our version of the Great Depression."

  Athens must reduce its budget deficit below 3 percent of GDP by the end of 2014, from 9.3 percent of GDP in 2011 - requiring almost another 12 billion euros in cuts and higher taxes on top of the 17 billion successive governments have cut from the budget shortfall.

  Greece wants its lenders to give it two more years to achieve the budget goal to avoid an even deeper economic slump but its lenders have opposed the idea because it would imply even more financial aid.

  Highlighting growing frustration with Athens, German magazine " Der Spiegel" reported on Sunday, citing high-ranking representatives in Brussels, that the IMF may not take part in any additional financing for Greece.

  The German and Greek finance ministries declined to comment on the report, which suggested additional support required for Athens could range from 10-50 billion euros.

  NO MORE

  Officials have already indicated there would be a shortfall on the current bailout. How much is likely to depend on the extent by much Greece continues to miss its fiscal targets and the extent of support needed to keep its major banks afloat.

  German economy minister Philipp Roesler told ARD public television he did not expect Greece could fulfill its requirements and that that would mean no more money to Athens.

  " I am more than sceptical," Roesler, who is the head of the junior party in Germany's ruling coalition and often outspoken on euro zone issues, said in an interview.

  " If Greece does not fulfill its requirements, there cannot be any more payments to Greece," added Roesler, whose views often do not reflect those of Chancellor Angela Merkel or Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.

  The inspection team of the international " troika" of the EU Commission, the IMF and the ECB will focus on the 11.7 billion euros of spending cuts Athens needs to take in 2013 and 2014.

  Clinton criticized Greece's lenders for focusing excessively on austerity, saying Athens will be more likely to repay its debt if its manages economic recovery first.

  " (It) is self-defeating... if every day people are saying this may or may not work to give us back 100 cents on the dollar, so give us more austerity today," he told Samaras.

  " People need something to look forward to when they get up in the morning - young Greeks need something to believe in so they can stake their future out here," Clinton said.

TAIPEI, July 23 (Reuters) - Taiwan's industrial output for June, released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Monday. It said chemical output fell 5.3 percent, while electronics and computers output declined 12.27 percent Industrial output closely tracks exports and export orders, both of which have fallen for four straight months. JUNE MAY (y/y pct) (y/y pct) Industrial output -2.44 -0.21 *revised figure Industrial output -1.97 pct month on month seasonally adjusted (previous month -0.32 pct) The ministry's website is http://www.moea.gov.tw/ (Reporting by Jeanny Kao)

* Exporters feel the pain of strong yen vs euro
* Earnings season might not support -analysts
* Nikkei's fall largest in 1-1/2 months
* Worries grow domestic demand oriented shares may run out
of steam

By Hideyuki Sano and Sophie Knight
TOKYO, July 23 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average
posted its biggest fall in a month and a half as it sank to a
six-week low on Monday, hit by renewed fears that Spain may need
a full-blown bailout and by the subsequent rise in the yen.
Exporters such as consumer electronics stocks fell as the
news from Spain dragged the euro to a more than 11-year low
against the yen, while the dollar dipped to a seven-week trough
against the Japanese currency.
Trading was subdued as investors looked to Japan's earnings
season, which begins in earnest later this week, though some
market players said hopes were dimming that results would
provide a catalyst for a market rebound.
" Because it is just the first quarter (of the Japanese
financial year), company executives will probably strike a
cautious tone and will not raise annual outlooks," said Tetsuro
Ii, the president of Commons Asset Management.
The Nikkei shed 1.9 percent to 8,508.32, the lowest
close sine June 8. The broader Topix index fell 1.8
percent to 720.62, having fallen in 11 of the past 12 sessions.
In one clearly bearish signal, the Nikkei fell below
important support from the bottom of cloud on the daily Ichimoku
chart, which stood at 8,566.
The benchmark index has also now dropped below the 61.8
percent retracement of the rally between June 4 and July 4 that
took it as high as 9,136 -- gains that came after a lull in the
euro zone's debt woes helped investors focus on the prospects of
Japanese stocks driven by domestic demand.
The weakness in Japanese shares followed declines in other
major stock indices after the heavily-indebted Spanish region of
Valencia asked Madrid for help.
Smaller Murcia is likely to be the next of half a dozen
regional governments to follow in Valencia's footsteps,
according to media.
" Just as the euro zone's problems had appeared to calm down,
uncertainty rears its head again," said Masayuki Otani, chief
market analyst at Securities Japan.
" It's not only in Spain where regional banks are in trouble,
they're also weak in Italy and other countries," he said.

NOT-SO-GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Fears of a worsening downturn in Europe are curbing
expectations for exporters' results.
Printer makers and some other electronics firms suffered
heavy losses after Xerox Corp shed 6.8 percent on
Friday, cutting its full-year forecast due to dwindling demand
in Europe.
Ricoh Co Ltd dropped 7.0 percent, while Canon
, the most-traded stock on the main board by turnover,
lost 4.6 percent. Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp
fell 4.1 and 4.4 percent respectively.
There are worries that domestically oriented stocks might
soon run out of steam after gaining excessive attention since
early June as investors cut exposure to exporters amid signs of
slowing global growth.
" The mood is pretty bad. There are few stocks to buy. Last
w eek w e had a bout 40-50 shares h it highs for the year even as
the overall market declined, but today there are only eight such
stocks," said Hideyuki Ishiguro, senior strategist at Okasan
Securities.
" We can't rule out the possibility that the Topix will test
700," he added. As of Monday's close, the Topix stood 4.1
percent above a three-decade low of 692.18 hit in early June.
On the main board of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, 1.41 billion
shared were traded, about 30 percent below the average so far
this year and 1,503 shares declined -- the second-largest so far
this year after May 7.

By Risa Maeda

  TOKYO (Reuters) - A government-appointed inquiry into Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis raised doubts on Monday about whether other atomic plants were prepared for massive disasters despite new safety rules, and delivered a damning assessment of the regulators and the station's operator.

  The report, the second this month about the disaster, could be seized upon by Japan's increasingly vociferous anti-nuclear movement after the restart of two reactors, and as the government readies a new energy policy due out next month.

  The panel suggested post-Fukushima safety steps taken at other nuclear plants may not be enough to cope with a big, complex catastrophe caused by both human error and natural causes in a " disaster-prone nation" like Japan, which suffers from earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes.

  " We understand that immediate safety measures are being further detailed and will materialise in the future. But we strongly urge the people concerned to make continued efforts to take really effective steps," said the panel, chaired by University of Tokyo engineering professor Yotaro Hatamura.

  Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, and regulators failed to plan for a massive natural disaster, the panel said, blaming them for being lulled by the same " safety myth" blasted by a parliament-appointed team of experts earlier this month.

  " Both the government and companies should establish a new philosophy of disaster prevention that requires safety and disaster measures against any massive accident and disaster ... regardless of event probability," the report said.

  But the inquiry stopped short of accusing the regulators and Tepco of " collusion" , a charge included in a strongly-worded report by a parliamentary panel earlier in July.

  QUAKE IMPACT

  Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's decision to restart Kansai Electric Power Co's two reactors this month has energised the country's growing anti-nuclear movement, with more than 100,000 taking to the streets in Tokyo a week ago.

  All of Japan's 50 reactors were shut down for safety checks after Fukushima. Critics say the two restarted reactors do not meet all the government's safety criteria announced this April.

  The panel called on the government to immediately take additional steps, including ensuring that off-site nuclear accident management centres are protected against the kind of massive radiation leaks that made the one at Fukushima useless.

  The Fukushima Daiichi plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was hit on March 11 last year by an earthquake and tsunami that knocked out power supply and swamped its backup power and cooling systems, resulting in meltdowns of three of its six reactors. Some 150,000 people were forced to flee as radioactive materials spewed, some never to return.

  The government-appointed panel said there was no proof the earthquake was a key factor in the disaster but added that some impact could not be ruled out, contradicting Tepco's own findings, which put the blame solely on the tsunami.

  The panel called on Tepco to review data presented to the panel because it believes they contain errors, echoing other criticism of the operator, and urged the utility to carry out further investigations into the causes of the disaster.

  The report also blamed Japan's nuclear regulators for not paying sufficient heed to improvements in nuclear safety standards recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

  (Editing by Aaron Sheldrick, Linda Sieg and Daniel Magnowski)

* KOSPI breaks below key 1,800 pt support level
* Resurgent euro debt fears batter exporters, banks
* OCI down 3.5 pct after China opens anti-dumping probe

By Joonhee Yu
SEOUL, July 23 (Reuters) - Seoul shares slumped to a
one-and-a-half week closing low on Monday over worries about
Spain's ability to avoid a full-fledged sovereign bailout, after
two indebted Spanish regions requested central government aid to
shore up their finances.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell
1.84 percent to close at 1,789.45 points, breaking below the
psychological support level of 1,800 points.
" There's little encouragement in the way of policy hopes or
macro fundamentals to lean on while troubling headlines continue
to flow out Spain and elsewhere," said Won Sang-pil, an analyst
at Tong Yang Securities.
" Holding the ground at 1,800 appears untenable at this point
and the next support level is seen near 1,750 but when the
market is being held hostage by external risks, technicals alone
won't be sufficient to stem the tide as long as negative
developments persist," said Won.
After the regions of Valencia and Murcia asked for Madrid's
financial aid, local media reports said that six-other
debt-troubled regions in the country were also ready to tap into
Spain's 18 billion euro internal bailout mechanism.
Jittery investors punished Spain's public finance woes by
pushing yields on its borrowings costs to a euro-era high above
the 7 percent level widely viewed as unsustainable.
With Spain stepping closer to the edge of bankruptcy, fears
of financial contagion hit South Korea's banking sector, which
was already stressed by a recent rate-fixing probe. All four
major banks logged steep declines.
Shinhan Financial slumped 4.1 percent while
Woori Finance Holdings fell 3.3 percent.
Blue-chip exporters added to the woes with hefty losses
across the board as tech-giant Samsung Electronics
retreated 2.4 percent while chipmaker SK Hynix
tumbled 4.2 percent.
Customs data released by the South Korean government on
Saturday showed exports declining for the fourth time in six
months, hit by slumping demand due to the protracted euro zone
debt crisis.
OCI Corp, South Korea's largest polysilicon
maker, fell 3.5 percent on Monday after China's trade ministry
said it will open an anti-dumping probe into imported U.S. and
South Korean raw materials for solar panels.
Celltrion Inc shares bucked the broader market
trend to gain 1 percent after saying its biosimilar antibody
" Remsima" was approved by South Korea's drug regulator.
Bearish investors took refuge in classic defensive plays
such as telecoms and utilities, lifting SK Telecom,
South Korea's largest mobile service provider, up 1.5 percent
while Korea Gas Corp gained 1.6 percent.
Investors are about to get a slew of big domestic corporate
earnings to gauge global demand, starting with steelmaker POSCO
on Tuesday.

Move on day -1.84 percent
12-month high 2,192.83 8 July 2011
12-month low 1,644.11 26 Sept 2011
Change on yr -1.98 percent
All-time high 2,231.47 27 April 2011
All-time low 93.10 6 January 1981

(Reporting by Joonhee Yu Editing by Richard Borsuk)

HONG KONG, July 23 (Reuters) - Hong Kong shares extended losses on Monday, hitting the day's lows as a 5.6 percent slump in HSBC Holdings helped the Hang Seng Index wipe out last week's gains.

  The Hang Seng Index was down 3.1 percent at 19,023.6 at 0521 GMT. The China Enterprises Index of the top Chinese listings was down 3.3 percent. (Reporting by Clement Tan Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)