Seoul stocks drop 1% on Wall Street losses

South Korean stocks ended lower Monday as foreign investors and institutions cashed in recent gains following overnight Wall Street losses, analysts said. The Korean won fell against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index  declined 23.82 points, or 1 percent, to close at 2,357.87. Trade volume was moderate at 324 million shares worth 5.7 trillion won ($5.3 billion), with losers far outnumbering gainers 560 to 243.

Institutional investors and foreigners offloaded a net 408 billion won and 145 billion won worth of local stocks, respectively, while individuals were net buyers by snatching up 500 billion won.

The local stock market opened lower following overnight Wall Street losses. On Friday (local time), the US stocks dropped, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropping 1.8 percent.

Most large caps on the Seoul bourse closed mixed, with tech shares finishing in negative terrain.

"The US market slipped, led by tech losses despite gains in financial and energy shares" said Seo Sang-young, a researcher at Kiwoom Securities Co. "The Korean market also finished in negative terrain."

Top cap Samsung Electronics ended at 2,269,000 won, down 1.56 percent from the previous session's close. Smaller rival LG Electronics lost 3.06 percent to 85,600 won, and global chipmaker SK hynix also shed 1.37 percent to 57,500 won.

Naver, the top Internet portal operator, slipped 6.77 percent to 895,000 won.

Leading gamemaker NC Soft, meanwhile, finished up 2.4 percent to a record high of 416,000 won after unveiling the mobile version of its mega-hit "Lineage," "Lineage M." The game will be officially available on both Android and iOS on June 21.

Brokerage houses and insurers gained ground on rosy forecasts ahead of the monthly FOMC meeting. Top insurer Samsung Life Insurance edged up 0.35 percent to 239,000 won. Hana Investment & Securities gained 2.58 percent to 43,750 won.

Auto shares closed mixed, with leading automaker Hyundai Motor gaining 1.56 percent to 162,500 won. Its sister company, Kia Motors, meanwhile, inched down 0.13 percent to 33,950 won, and auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis went down 0.57 percent to 263,000 won.

The local currency closed at 1,127.03 won against the greenback, down 4.1 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, dropped. The yield on three-year Treasurys surged 6.5 basis points to 1.697 percent and the return on benchmark five-year government bonds gained 6.5 basis points to 1.915 percent. (Yonhap)