Kospi drops 0.17% as markets wait on hint from Fed

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2653.31 points on Wednesday, down 0.17 percent, or 4.48 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished lower Wednesday with investors waiting for the release of the January meeting minutes from the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, while the local currency rose against the dollar.

After starting marginally higher, the Kospi lost 4.48 points, or 0.17 percent, to close at 2,653.31.

Trade volume was moderate at 551.7 million shares worth 8.9 trillion won (US$6.7 billion), with losers outnumbering winners 553 to 313.

Foreigners and retail investors dumped local shares worth 103.1 billion won and 89.98 billion won, respectively, offsetting institutional purchases of 144.2 billion won.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoon Securities, said caution grew ahead of the release of the FOMC's January meeting, which is likely to show whether the Federal Reserve is prudent about cutting its rates later this year, while overnight losses on Wall Street sparked by profit-taking ahead of Nvidia's fourth quarter earnings announcement also affected investor sentiment.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics lost 0.41 percent to 73,000 won, and SK hynix dropped 0.4 percent to 149,000 won.

SK Innovation fell 1.51 percent to 124,100 won. LG Chem lost 1.19 percent to 500,000 won.

Hyundai Motor retreated 1.03 percent to 239,500 won, while Kia gained 0.6 percent to 116,800 won.

Financial shares ended in negative territory.

KB Financial Group plunged 4.12 percent to 65,100 won, Shinhan Financial Group went down 0.46 percent to 43,050 won, and Hana Financial Group dipped 0.36 percent to 56,000 won.

Battery shares, however, were strong.

LG Energy Solution climbed 0.74 percent to 407,000 won, Samsung SDI jumped 1.27 percent to 400,000 won, and Posco Future M gained 0.99 percent to 307,500 won.

Samsung Life Insurance shot up 8.08 percent on expectations of an increase in shareholder value.

The local currency closed at 1,334.70 won against the greenback, down 2.9 won from the previous session's close.

The Kosdaq fell 2.10 points, or 0.24 percent, to close at 864.07.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed mixed. The yield on three-year government bonds remained unchanged to 3.403 percent, and the return on the U.S.' benchmark 10-year government bonds fell 0.4 basis points to 4.278 percent.

BY KIM JI-YE, YONHAP [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]