Seoul shares open lower on dashed hopes for early rate cut

Seoul shares opened lower Friday as investors were disappointed with hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 23.64 points, or 0.86 percent, to 2,718.36 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.35 percent to 38,596.98 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.4 percent to 16,049.08. Fed officials said the U.S. central bank needs time to be confident on inflation before starting to cut rates and no rate cuts may be required this year unless inflation is in check. In Seoul, tech, airline and energy stocks declined. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. fell 0.8 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. declined 2.6 percent, national flag carrier Korean Air Co. shed 0.7 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution was down 1.2 percent. Among gainers, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. rose 0.7 percent, leading cosmetics firm Amorepacific Corp. climbed 1.1 percent, and refiner S-Oil Corp . jumped 5 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,350.85 won against the dollar, down 3.75 won from the previous session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency