Kospi opens lower after mixed results on Wall Street

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,784.26 points on Thursday, down 0.83 percent, or 23.37 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Shares opened lower Monday, after a mixed close on Wall Street, as investors remained cautious ahead of key U.S. data and corporate earnings.

The Kospi fell 6.68 points, or 0.24 percent, to 2,777.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.04 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 fell 0.16 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively, as big-cap tech shares took a breather following a rally.

Investors are keeping a close eye on the U.S. personal consumer expenditure data due later this week, which will give clues for the Federal Reserve's monetary policy direction.

Also, Micron Technology is scheduled to release its earnings for the March-May period.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics was flat, chipmaker SK hynix declined 2.56 percent.

Hyundai Motor pulled back 0.18 percent and its affiliate Kia shed 0.23 percent.

Battery shares also started in negative territory, with industry leader LG Energy Solution down 0.15 percent and Samsung SDI down 1.8 percent.

On the other hand, Posco Holdings gained 0.55 percent and LG Chem rose 0.28 percent.

LG Electronics jumped 2.12 percent and Celltrion advanced 1.02 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,390.70 won against the dollar, up 2.4 won from the previous session's close.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]