Korean shares down 0.04% in late morning trade

South Korean stocks traded lower late Wednesday morning as foreigners continued to offload stocks.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 0.79 points, or 0.04 percent, to 2,160.31 as of 11:15 a.m.

The broad index bucked overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.19 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index climbing 0.07 percent.

Bae Sung-young, a market analyst at KB Securities Co., said foreigners continued to sell South Korean stocks and there is no momentum that could push up the main index.

Most large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.

Naver, the top Internet portal operator, gained 0.12 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO was up 1.09 percent.

Meanwhile, market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.10 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. was down 0.39 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,122.50 won against the US dollar, down 0.60 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)