Stocks open lower following Wall Street losses, strong U.S. jobs data

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi index start on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened lower Wednesday, following an overnight dip on Wall Street amid unexpected growth of U.S. job openings in August and concerns about potential rate increases by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Kospi shed 47.43 points, or 1.92 percent, to 2,417.64 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The Kosdaq lost more than 2.2 percent in the first 15 minutes.

Overnight, U.S. shares ended lower as an increase in available job openings in August strengthened speculation the Fed will go for another rate hike this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1.29 percent, the S&P 500 fell 1.37 percent, closing at its lowest since June 1, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.87 percent.

In Seoul, most top-cap shares opened lower.

Samsung Electronics sank 1.61 percent, and SK hynix dipped 0.09 percent.

Other tech stocks also lost ground.

Naver retreated 2.33 percent, and Kakao plunged 3.41 percent.

LG Energy Solution slid 3.78 percent, and Samsung SDI shot down 6.15 percent. LG Chem lost more than 1.4 percent.

Posco and its affiliates were also weak, with steel giant Posco Holdings down 2.8 percent and Posco Future M down 4.87 percent.

Auto shares were mixed, with Hyundai Motor losing 0.99 percent and Kia gaining 0.49 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,361.70 won against the dollar at 9:12 a.m., down 12.4 won from the previous session's close, which was also the lowest point this year.

BY JIN MIN-JI, YONHAP [jin.minji@joongang.co.kr]