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Seoul shares open lower on U.S. tariff uncertainty

Published: 07 Mar. 2025, 10:09

A person walks past a screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul on March 7. [YONHAP]

Seoul shares opened lower Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street sparked by uncertainty from swings in the U.S. administration's tariff policies.

The Kospi fell 21.62 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,554.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, major U.S. shares sank as investor sentiment soured after the Donald Trump administration went back and forth on its plan to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, increasing uncertainty in the global economy.

The S&P 500 dipped 1.78 percent, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.99 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 2.61 percent.

After imposing 25 percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods on Tuesday, Washington announced a decision the next day to offer a one-month exemption of duties on vehicles coming into the country through the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (Usmca).

On Thursday, the U.S. administration announced a delay of tariffs on a broader range of Mexican and Canadian goods covered under the Usmca, until early next month.

In Seoul, most big-cap shares started in negative terrain.

Samsung Electronics lost 0.92 percent, and SK hynix dropped 1.87 percent.

Samsung Biologics pulled back 1.33 percent, and Hyundai Motor slipped 0.89 percent.

Naver fell 1.83 percent, and Kakao plunged 2.66 percent.

Meritz Financial shot down 3.14 percent.

Posco Holdings gained 1.86 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,446.5 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 4.1 won from the previous session.

Yonhap