Korean stocks open lower Thursday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street

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Korean stocks open lower Thursday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street

Published: 17 Nov. 2022, 10:44

Electronic display boards at Hana Bank in central Seoul show stock and foreign exchange markets on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened lower Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, amid lingering concerns over aggressive monetary tightening and a global economic recession.

The Kospi shed 12.25 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,465.20 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The Korean stock market opened at 10 a.m., one hour later than usual, due to the national college entrance exam.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 0.12 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 1.54 percent, as data showed better-than-expected employment and retail sales in the United States, which would cause the Fed to continue its strong push for interest rate hikes to curb inflation.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said Wednesday: "Pausing is off the table right now. It's not even part of the discussion," according to foreign media reports.

In Seoul, tech shares lost ground to lead the market fall.

Samsung Electronics dropped 1.28 percent, and SK hynix sank 3.72 percent.

LG Energy Solutions inched down 0.17 percent, and Samsung SDI fell 0.97 percent. LG Chem shed 1.69 percent.

Carmakers also lost ground, with Hyundai Motor declining 0.58 percent and its affiliate Kia falling 1.03 percent.

But bio shares rose on bargain hunting. Samsung Biologics advanced 0.68 percent, and Celltrion went up 0.56 percent.

The won was trading at 1,330.90 won against the dollar as of 10:15 a.m., down 5.9 won from the previous session's close.

BY LIM JEONG-WON, YONHAP [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]