Seoul shares open lower on Samsung, global banking system woes

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Seoul shares open lower on Samsung, global banking system woes

Published: 27 Apr. 2023, 09:46

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

Stocks opened lower Thursday on Samsung Electronics' poor earnings and renewed concerns about the health of the global banking system.

The Kospi shed 11.7 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,473.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, U.S. shares ended mixed as concerns about the U.S. banking sector instability overshadowed upbeat corporate business results.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.68 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite grew 0.47 percent.

Shares of the American First Republic Bank continued to sink sharply after it reported a drop in deposits in the first quarter, which reminded investors of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and several other lenders last month.

In Seoul, top-cap shares opened mixed.

Samsung Electronics lost 0.78 percent after it reported its first quarter operating profit nosedived 95 percent to 640.2 billion won ($478 million), the worst quarterly figure in 14 years.

SK hynix fell 1.03 percent, and Samsung SDI shed 0.14 percent.

LG Energy Solution spiked 2.29 percent, and LG Chem went up 0.55 percent.

Bio shares lost ground, with Samsung Biologics skidding 1.15 percent and Celltrion losing 1.81 percent.

Naver decreased 0.37 percent, and Kakao sank 1.81 percent.

Carmakers opened higher. Hyundai Motor added 0.25 percent, and Kia jumped 1.98 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,337.95 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 1.65 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap