SEOUL: South Korean shares got off to a weak start Friday as both foreigners and institutions offloaded their holdings, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 13.52 points, or 0.65 percent, to 2,051.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Most large caps traded in negative territory, with Samsung Electronics slipping 0.49 percent and Kia Motors slumping 3.07 percent.
In contrast, tobacco maker KT&G jumped 4.39 percent after posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings Thursday.
The local currency was trading at 1,162.2 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 2.9 won from Thursday’s close.
