An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)
Seoul shares opened lower Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors remain concerned over the Federal Reserve's continued monetary tightening.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 9.82 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,471.70 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1 percent.
Fed officials said interest rates need to remain high for a while to battle inflation, weighing on investor sentiment.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. fell 0.2 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. declined 0.3 percent, leading car battery maker LG Energy Solution dropped 0.7 percent, and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. shed 0.2 percent.
Among gainers, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. rose 0.2 percent, national flag carrier Korean Air Co. climbed 0.4 percent, and Hybe, the Korean entertainment agency behind supergroup BTS, jumped 4 percent on news it will acquire a 14.8 percent stake in its rival K-pop agency SM Entertainment to become its largest shareholder.
SM Entertainment also soared 14 percent. Hybe said it will buy the controlling stake from SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man for 422.8 billion won ($335.8 million).
The local currency was trading at 1,265.5 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 5.1 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
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