Seoul shares open lower on US losses, profit taking

South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, led by declines in big-cap tech shares on profit taking after an overnight fall on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 9.8 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,594.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

US stocks closed lower despite the stronger-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.67 percent, snapping a 13-day winning streak, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.55 percent.

The US economy grew 2.4 percent in the second quarter, up from 2 percent growth the previous quarter and higher than experts' estimate of around 2 percent.

In Seoul, tech giant Samsung Electronics fell 0.42 percent, and SK hynix remained unchanged following sharp gains the previous session on hope for an industry turnaround.

Major chemical firm LG Chem tumbled 2.28 percent, and Posco Future M retreated 0.82 percent.

But leading battery maker LG Energy Solution rose 1.3 percent, and Samsung SDI inched up 0.15 percent.

Posco Holdings went up 1.01 percent following a sharp fall the previous session.

Carmakers opened higher, with top automaker Hyundai Motor rising 1.11 percent and Kia spiking 3.73 percent.

Among decliners, major bio firm Samsung Biologics sank 1.52 percent, and internet giant Naver dived 1.89 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,282.70 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 5 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)