Seoul Shares Open Lower Tracking Wall Street Losses

Seoul: South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday tracking overnight losses on Wall Street as a potential U.S. rate cut in September looked overly optimistic. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 24.1 points, or 0.75 percent, to 3,185.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading.According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 0.22 percent lower, and the S and P 500 shed 0.43 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.77 percent. The decline, however, was partially limited as investors believed the overnight summit between South Korea and the United States covered a wide agenda, including business cooperation, without major discord.Top tech giant Samsung Electronics lost 1.26 percent and SK hynix fell 0.58 percent. LG Energy Solution, on the other hand, added 0.13 percent. Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor slipped 0.68 percent and its sister Kia moved down 0.96 percent.The local currency was trading at 1,387.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m ., down 3 won from the previous session.