Seoul shares open nearly flat on lingering U.S. debt ceiling concerns

Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul begins trading stock and foreign currency on Monday. [YONHAP]

Stocks started nearly unchanged Wednesday amid protracted U.S. debt-ceiling negotiations.

The benchmark Kospi fell 0.11 points to 2,480.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.01 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.18 percent as investors awaited developments in the negotiations on debt deals.

In Seoul, big caps traded in mixed territories.

Hyundai Motor rose 0.74 percent, and auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis went up 0.91 percent.

LG Display soared 4.47 percent on the latest news report that it will supply OLED TV panels to Samsung Electronics, which fell 0.31 percent.

Retailers Lotte Shopping fell 0.98 percent, and Shinsegae dropped 0.25 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,341.45 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 2.85 from Tuesday's close.

Yonhap