Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses

South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 6.68 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,008.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Shares lost ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics losing 1.35 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO falling 0.82 percent. No. 2 carmaker Kia Motors moved down 0.73 percent.

U.S. stocks ended lower Thursday on concerns that the Federal Reserve may scale back its economic stimulus, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 0.34 percent and the NASDAQ composite index losing 1.04 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,088.55 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.35 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap News)