Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses amid rate hike worries

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Monday. [NEWS1]

Seoul shares opened lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as the U.S. Federal Reserve said last week it will continue to raise rates for a while to tame inflation.

The benchmark Kospi fell 30.8 points, or 1.24 percent, to 2,449.60 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4 percent to 33,926.01 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.6 percent to 12,006.95 points.

The Fed raised the benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points Wednesday as expected, and its Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank needs "substantially more evidence" to be confident that inflation is on a downward path.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks declined.

Samsung Electronics fell 1.9 percent, chipmaker SK hynix dropped 1.4 percent, national flag carrier Korean Air shed 1 percent, and car battery maker LG Energy Solution was down 1.9 percent.

Among gainers, carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.3 percent and home appliance maker LG Electronics climbed 0.4 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,247.25 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 17.85 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap