Korea Hot Stocks-Korea Gas up on hopes from US energy policies

SEOUL | Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:51pm EST

SEOUL Feb 14 (Reuters) - South Korea's main KOSPI share index was up 0.1 percent at 1,977.63 as of 0042 GMT. The index opened up 0.1 percent at 1,977.42.

Stocks on the move on Thursday include:

**KOREA GAS RISES ON HOPES FROM US NATURAL GAS POLICIES**

Shares in Korea Gas Corp rose 2.6 percent in early trade after a local brokerage picked the state-run utility as a likely beneficiary of U.S. President Barack Obama's clean energy policies outlined in his latest State of the Union address.

"The U.S. Energy Information Administration has suggested that the export of leftover natural gas to other countries could help the U.S. economy (...) so approval for natural gas exports is expected," Lee Sang-hun, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities, wrote in a note to investors.

Lee said Korea Gas Corp, which has one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) buying capacities in the world, could use the opportunity to expand its LNG business and house a complete value chain including engineering, procurement, construction and trading. (Reporting by Joyce Lee)

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