Seoul shares open lower Monday over U.S. Fed woes

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

Seoul shares opened lower Monday over woes that the U.S. Federal Reserve may continue its aggressive monetary tightening.

The Kospi rose 12.73 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,431.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.59 percent to 33,745.69, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.01 percent to 11,146.06.

This week, investors await minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting to take a cue on the course of rate hikes, analysts said.

Most large-cap stocks declined, with Samsung Electronics falling 0.7 percent, Hyundai Motor declining 1.2 percent, state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corporation shedding 1.8 percent and SK Innovation dropping 1.5 percent.

The local currency had been trading at 1,345.55 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 5.25 won from the previous session's close.

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