Kospi falls 1.49% after hotter-than-expected January inflation

Screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock markets open on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Shares opened lower Wednesday following hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data.

The Kospi fell 39.58 points, or 1.49 percent, to 2,610.06 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4 percent to 38,272.75, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 1.8 percent to 15,655.60.

Investors had been expecting the U.S. Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates this year amid easing inflation.

But January's consumer price index report threw cold water on those expectations.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks declined.

Samsung Electronics fell 1.6 percent and SK hynix plunged 3.1 percent. Hyundai Motor declined 0.8 percent and Korean Air shed 1.3 percent.

Among gainers, Korea Electric Power Corp. rose 0.2 percent and Jeju Air climbed 0.4 percent. Korea Aerospace Industries Co. was up 0.4 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,338.40 won against the dollar, up 10.3 won from the previous session's close.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, YONHAP [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]