South Korean shares trade slightly lower ahead of holiday
South Korean shares traded slightly lower on Thursday, bucking Wall Street's overnight rally to record highs, as investors awaited new cues ahead of a holiday break.
The benchmark KOSPI was down 7.02 points, or 0.22%, at 3,217.35 as of 0446 GMT.
South Korean financial markets will be closed on Friday for a public holiday.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes hit new closing highs for the second straight day on Wednesday on hopes that the Federal Reserve was getting close to a monetary easing cycle.
'The domestic market these days is busy looking for new drivers,' said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.
Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 0.56%, while peer SK Hynix lost 1.80%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 1.03%.
Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were up 0.69% and unchanged, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 0.97%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 0.58%.
Of the total 933 traded issues, 328 shares advanced, while 552 declined.
Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 93.9 billion won ($67.89 million).
The won was quoted at 1,383.6 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.30% lower than its previous close at 1,379.4.
In money and debt markets, September futures on three-year treasury bonds gained 0.05 point to 107.47.
The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield fell by 0.1 basis point to 2.409%, while the benchmark 10-year yield fell by 1.9 basis points to 2.784%.
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