An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)
Seoul stocks opened lower Wednesday following an overnight fall on Wall Street as investors remain wary of a global recession.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index declined 10.98 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,207.7 points as of 9:15 a.m.
Overnight, major indexes on Wall Street closed lower, dragged down by declines in heavyweights, such as Apple and Tesla.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.03 percent, the S&P 500 inched down 0.4 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.76 percent.
Tesla weighed down the market, tumbling 12.2 percent after its fourth-quarter deliveries missed a Wall Street estimate. iPhone maker Apple Inc. also dropped to the lowest level since June 2021.
Gloomy US manufacturing data for December also dampened investor sentiment.
In Seoul, tech stocks opened higher, while battery shares dropped.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics was up 1.44 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 3.17 percent.
Battery maker LG Energy Solution dipped 3.75 percent, bio firm Samsung Biologics retreated 2.12 percent, and top auto maker Hyundai Motor stayed unchanged from the previous session's close.
The local currency was changing hands at 1,278.2 won against the greenback, down 7.2 won from the previous session's close as of 9:15 a.m. (Yonhap)
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