Seoul shares open lower on slump in autos, financials
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, despite overnight U.S. rallies, led by losses in auto and financial shares.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 11.04 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,523.30 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 0.99 percent to a record high and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rose 0.27 percent, as investors welcomed Trump's nomination of Scott Bessent as his treasury secretary on hope that he would guide the economy without causing inflation, according to experts.
Big-cap tech shares opened mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.69 percent, while chip giant SK hynix went down 0.34 percent.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 0.24 percent, but LG Chem grew 0.49 percent.
Carmakers opened lower as top automaker Hyundai Motor slid 0.68 and its sister affiliate Kia sank 1.13 percent.
KB Financial Group dropped 2.96 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group sank 3.01 percent.
But top steelmaker Posco Holdings added 0.83 percent, and internet platform giant Naver inched up 0.05 percent.
The local currency had been trading at 1,407.0 won against the greenback as of 9:15 a.m., down 4.8 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
