Seoul: Seoul shares opened lower Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his administration will start imposing 25 percent tariffs on all imported cars early next month, a move expected to deal a blow to South Korea's automotive industry. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 17.01 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,626.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight, major U.S. indexes lost ground, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite sliding 2.04 percent, as Nvidia, Tesla, and other blue chip tech shares sharply went down. In Seoul, automakers kicked off weak, as just a few hours earlier, Trump signed a proclamation to impose the new tariffs on foreign-made cars, light trucks, and key parts, such as engines and transmissions, which will go into effect April 2.
Hyundai Motor shot down 3.38 percent, and its sister Kia plunged 2.07 percent. Most other big-cap shares also started in negative territory. Major chipmaker SK hynix dropped 1.64 percent, while its rival Samsung Electronics gained 0.49 percent. Internet portal operator Naver shed 1.96 percent, and steel giant POSCO Holdings lost 1.63 percent. Leading oil refinery SK Innovation also slipped 1.59 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,470.5 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 4.2 won from the previous session.