Korean shares open lower on renewed banking woes

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Korean shares open lower on renewed banking woes

Published: 03 May. 2023, 09:48 Updated: 03 May. 2023, 10:14

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

Stocks opened lower Wednesday on renewed fears over the U.S. banking crisis following the auction of a U.S. regional bank ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week.

The Kospi slid 13.66 points, or 0.54 percent, to 2,510.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Wall Street ended the session down overnight as uncertainties arose over the financial system following the sale of the First Republic Bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co., led by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Investors kept a wary eye as they awaited the signals from the Fed for when it will end its aggressive rate hike cycle after a widely expected 25 basis point hike at the end of the policy meeting Wednesday.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks fell across the board.

Samsung Electronics lost 0.9 percent, and SK hynix was down 1.2 percent.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution dipped around 1.9 percent, and Samsung SDI sank more than 2 percent.

Entertainment agency HYBE jumped more than 6 percent after reporting record-high profit for the first quarter the previous day.

The local currency was trading at 1,341.30 won against the dollar at around 9:15 a.m., down 0.8 won from Tuesday's close.

Yonhap