Seoul shares open nearly flat ahead of earnings season

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Seoul shares open nearly flat ahead of earnings season

Published: 25 Apr. 2023, 09:38 Updated: 25 Apr. 2023, 10:09

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

Stocks opened nearly flat Tuesday, following a three-day losing streak, as investors await first-quarter corporate earnings reports.

The Kospi shed 1.64 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,521.86 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, U.S. shares ended mixed as big tech earnings season approaches.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.29 percent.

This week, South Korean chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, as well as several other major companies, are to release their quarterly earnings amid a gloomy outlook for the performance of semiconductors, in particular, over a global economic slowdown and monetary tightening policy steps.

Top-cap shares traded mixed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.46 percent, while SK hynix remained unchanged.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution remained flat, and LG Chem went down 0.39 percent. But Samsung SDI grew 0.55 percent.

Carmakers were also mixed, with Hyundai Motor advancing 0.83 percent while Kia decreased 0.24 percent.

Steelmaker Posco Holdings dropped 1 percent, and battery components maker Posco Future M skidded 1.24 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,331.05 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 3.75 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap