SEOUL: South Korean stocks traded 0.29 percent lower late Thursday morning as a slew of weak corporate earnings clouded the outlook of major exporters in the nation.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 5.85 points to 2,037.13 as of 11:20 a.m.
SK hynix, the world’s No. 2 chipmaker, shed 3.57 percent after its third-quarter net profit fell 4.3 percent on-year to 1.05 trillion won (US$923.5 million) due to slowing demand for memory chips for PCs.
Samsung Engineering plunged 16.77 percent after Samsung’s construction unit logged a loss in the July-September period amid a prolonged slump at home and abroad.
Hyundai Steel slipped 1.25 percent as its third-quarter net earnings dipped 80 percent amid a global oversupply.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,136.3 won against the greenback as of 11:20 a.m., down 3.8 won from Wednesday’s close.
