21 hours ago
Seoul shares open lower despite overnight Wall Street gains
South Korean stocks opened slightly lower Wednesday despite overnight US stocks gains boosted by eased Middle Eastern tensions and hopes of an early interest rate cut.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 1.31 points, or 0.04 percent, to 3,102.33 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, Wall Street gained ground as investors focused on easing tensions in the Middle East following the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and the possibility of an early interest rate cut raised by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a testimony at the U.S Congress.
In Seoul, overall losses were led by bio and battery shares. Top bio company Samsung Biologics fell 1 percent, and leading battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution lost 1.5 percent.
Financial and internet portal shares also retreated. Kookmin Financial dropped 2.14 percent, and top portal operator Naver slumped 3.1 percent.
In contrast, semiconductor shares continued their upward momentum from the previous session. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics and chip rival SK hynix rose 0.5 percent and 2.69 percent, respectively.
Kakao Pay also surged 14.18 percent on hopes that the online lender could benefit from the government's push to adopt won-pegged stablecoins.
The local currency was trading at 1,357.25 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., up 2.95 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
