S. KOREAN COMPANIES LIKELY TO POST SLUGGISH Q2 EARNINGS.

SEOUL, July 2 Asia Pulse - South Korea's key industries of electronics, oil refining and petrochemicals and cars are likely to post sluggish second-quarter earnings reports, industry experts warned Sunday ahead of the April-June earnings season slated for July 10 through mid-August.

The experts attributed the weak results to high oil prices, the won's gain against the U.S. dollar and a slump in domestic demand.

A plunge in retail prices is also expected to have contributed to the poor performance by the electronics industry.

The Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest computer memory chipmaker, is expected to report 1.6 trillion won .69 billion) in net profit and 1.4 trillion won in operating profit in the April-June period, both down about 15 per cent from the previous quarter, according to online financial information provider Fn Guide.

LG Philips LCD Co. is expected to have incurred more than 100 billion won in operating loss in the quarter, the experts said.

Sales by POSCO, world's fifth-largest steelmaker, likely reached 4.86 trillion won in the second quarter, up 4.18 per cent from three months earliar. The estimated figure, however, is 9.65 per cent ...