[
THE INVESTOR] South Korean shares traded lower late morning on Aug. 10 as the Korean won surged against the US dollar.
The benchmark KOSPI shed 1.15 point, or 0.06 percent, to 2,042.63 as of 11:20 a.m.
After rising to a nine-month high a day earlier, the KOSPI stock index started 0.04 percent lower and it swung between gains and losses.
Market expectations for an interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve were slightly lower following softer US productivity data. Such sentiment weakened demand for the US dollar, prompting the Korean won to gain.
Samsung Electronics fell 1.53 percent and global chipmaker SK hynix lost 2.71 percent.
AmorePacific, the largest cosmetics maker, rose 3.18 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.37 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors traded 0.84 percent lower.
POSCO, the No.1 steelmaker, declined 0.45 percent.
Naver, the operator of the country’s top internet portal, rose 1.99 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,097.75 won against the US dollar, up 8.45 won from the previous session’s close.
It was the first time in about 13 months that the local currency traded below the 1,100-won level against the US dollar in an intraday trading.
(
theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)
