Seoul shares sharply down late Wed. morning on foreign sell-off

SEOUL, South Korean stocks traded sharply lower late Wednesday morning as most big-cap shares slid on foreign sell-off. After starting marginally higher, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had shed 46.13 points, or 1.85 percent, to 2,451.46 as of 11:20 a.m. Foreign investors dumped 417.8 billion won worth of shares, dragging down the KOSPI. Overnight, all three major U.S. indexes lost ground as Fed Gov. Christopher Waller's recent comments cooled bets on the Fed's early rate cuts. In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics sank 1.65 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.53 percent. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution plunged 3 percent, its smaller rival Samsung SDI dropped 3.04 percent, and POSCO Future M shot down 3.95 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor also retreated more than 2 percent, its smaller affiliate Kia dipped 1.89 percent, and its auto parts-making affiliate Hyundai Mobis slid 3.29 percent. IT and bio shares also went south Internet portal operator Naver dropped 2.61 percent, and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, fell 3.69 percent. Bio giant Samsung Biologics was down 0.39 percent, and Celltrion plunged 4.53 percent. Steel giant POSCO Holdings and leading chemical producer LG Chem also declined 2.86 percent and 4.17 percent, respectively. The local currency had been trading at 1,340.20 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 8.4 won from the previous session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency