Seoul stocks edge up on expectations of US-Russia talks

South Korean stocks edged up on Friday after choppy trading amid expectations of a US-Russia meeting next week about the standoff over Ukraine. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 0.43 point, or 0.02 percent, to close at 2,744.52 points.

Trading volume was moderate at about 506 million shares worth some 8.4 trillion won ($7 billion), with gainers outnumbering losers 622 to 225.

Institutions bought a net 103 billion won and retail investors purchased 44 billion won, while foreigners sold 151 billion won.

Stocks opened steeply lower, tracking an overnight plunge on Wall Street that stemmed from the elevating US-Russia tensions over Moscow's potential invasion of Ukraine.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.88 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 1.78 percent, due to the US top officials' comments about the heightening possibility of Russia's imminent invasion of Ukraine.

The KOSPI rebounded in the afternoon, buoyed by reports that the US secretary of state and the Russian foreign minister have agreed to meet for talks next week.

"Today's news about the potential US-Russia talks seem to have put the investors in their wait-and-see mode," Mirae Asset Securities analyst Park Gwang-nam said.

In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.93 percent to 74,300 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix decreased 1.13 percent to 131,500 won.

Internet portal operator Naver declined 2 percent to 318,000 won, and leading carmaker Hyundai Motor traded flat at 183,500 won. Top steelmaker POSCO declined 0.53 percent to 281,500 won.

The local currency closed at 1,195.9 won against the US dollar, up 1.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)