Seoul shares open lower on worries over Fed's tightening; won further down

South Korea's stock market opened lower Tuesday as foreigners and institutions unloaded shares following overnight losses amid concerns over the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening. The Korean won continued to lose ground against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 15.39 points, or 0.62 percent, to trade at 2,447.11 points as of 9:15 a.m.

Investors are awaiting Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments on inflation and rate increases at the annual Jackson Hole economic symposium set to be held Friday (US time).

The minutes of the Fed's July meeting released last week showed that the US central bank would continue to push for aggressive monetary tightening to tame inflation.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.91 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dived 2.55 percent.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks lost ground.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 1 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.95 percent.

Top chemical firm LG Chem went down 0.47 percent, and Samsung SDI decreased 0.83 percent.

Bio shares fell, with Samsung Biologics shedding 1.53 percent and pharmaceutical giant Celltrion tumbling 2 percent.

But carmakers gathered ground. No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.32 percent, and Kia added 0.26 percent. Leading car battery maker LG Energy Solution also gained 0.34 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,343.95 won against the US dollar, down 4.15 won from the previous session's close. On Monday, the won fell to the 1,330 level against the greenback for the first time in more than 13 years. (Yonhap)