South Korean stocks extended losses late Friday morning as foreign investors offloaded large-cap stocks.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 8.25 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,288.12 as of 11:15 a.m.
The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.11 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index declining 0.22 percent.
Kim Ye-eun, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said foreign selling of large-cap stocks worth nearly 300 billion won ($266) weighed on the main index.
Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. gained 1.14 percent, and the state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. was up 0.46 percent.
Meanwhile, SK hynix, a major chipmaker, fell 1.06 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor dropped 1.27 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,126.75 won against the US dollar, up 1.15 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
