Seoul shares open lower on tech, auto losses

Seoul shares opened lower Thursday despite overnight gains on Wall Street as big-cap tech stocks started off weak. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 24.58 points, or 0.88 percent, to 2,767.47 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, Wall Street closed higher, mainly driven by megacap tech shares' performance. But Micron Technology declined after earnings results failed to meet investors' expectations. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.74 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix plunged 2.53 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor dropped 0.52 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia retreated 1.22 percent. Bio and financial shares also started in negative territory. Samsung Biologics went down 0.96 percent, and Celltrion pulled back 1.36 percent. KB Financial Group lost more than 1 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group fell 1.89 percent. But battery shares gained ground, with LG Energy Solution up 0.45 percent and POSCO Future M up 1.18 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,392.20 won against the U.S. dollar, down 3.5 won from the previous session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency