SEOUL: South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday due to losses in tech firms and brokerage houses, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 17.69 points, or 0.83 percent, to 2,114.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Tech shares led the decline, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics moving down 2.29 percent and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix decreasing 1.6 percent.
Brokerage houses also traded lower, with KDB Daewoo Securities falling 5.74 percent and Samsung Securities losing 5.06 percent. NH Investment & Securities shed 3.79 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,081.00 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.80 won from Monday’s close. The South Korean financial market was closed Tuesday in observance of Children’s Day.
