South Korean stocks traded 0.94 percent lower late Thursday morning amid the rising woes over a tapering of quantitative easing moves by the United States, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved down 18.88 points to 1,998.36 as of 11:20 a.m.
Shares lost ground across the board, with Samsung Electronics falling 1.84 percent and Hyundai Motor losing 0.39 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO shed 0.15 percent.
Builders also traded bearish, with Hyundai Engineering & Construction moving down 0.83 percent and Daewoo Engineering & Construction decreasing 1.94 percent. Daelim Industrial shed 2.43 percent.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,060.20 won against the greenback as of 11:20 a.m., down 2.30 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap News)
