Seoul shares open lower on Wall Street losses

[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks started lower on Sept. 1, tracking Wall Street’s overnight losses.

The benchmark KOSPI fell 12.60 points, or 0.62 percent, to 2,022.05 in the first 20 minutes of trading.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 53.42 points, or 0.29 percent, to 18,400.88, hit by the drop in oil prices and energy shares. Some strong economic data added to the possibility of the US raising the key interest rate in the near future.

On the Seoul bourse, many large caps were off to a weak start.

Samsung Electronics lost 2.53 percent and global chipmaker SK hynix declined 1.65 percent.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.38 percent.

The South Korean won was trading at 1,114.90 won against the US greenback, down 0.10 won from the previous session’s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)