SEOUL: South Korean stocks turned lower late Wednesday morning as foreigners and institutions expanded their sell-offs, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 11.37 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,985.22 as of 11:20 a.m.
The index opened higher, raising expectations that it was bouncing back from marked setbacks in recent days but turned lower as large-caps and financial institutes led the downturn.
Samsung Life Insurance and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance were down 2.69 percent and 1.4 percent. No. 1 brokerage KDB Daewoo Securities shed more than 2 percent.
Automakers remained bearish, with industry leader Hyundai Motor declining nearly 1 percent. Its smaller affiliate Kia Motors lost over 3 percent.
LG Chem traded over 2 percent lower, while chipmaker SK hynix fell around 1 percent.
Leading Internet portal operator Naver and cosmetics giant AmorePacific, meanwhile stayed in positive terrain.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,154.5, up 2.4 won against the greenback as of 11:20 a.m.
