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An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap) |
Seoul shares opened lower Monday over woes that the US Federal Reserve may continue its aggressive monetary tightening.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 12.73 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,431.75 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.59 percent to 33,745.69, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.01 percent to 11,146.06.
This week, investors await minutes of the most recent Federal Reserve policy meeting to take a cue on the course of rate hikes, analysts said.
Most large-cap stocks declined, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. falling 0.7 percent, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. declining 1.2 percent, state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp. shedding 1.8 percent and leading refiner SK Innovation Co. dropping 1.5 percent.
The local currency had been trading at 1,345.55 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 5.25 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
