An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)
South Korean stocks opened lower Thursday on Samsung Electronics' poor earnings and renewed concerns about the health of the global banking system.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 11.7 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,473.13 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, US shares ended mixed as concerns about the US banking sector instability overshadowed upbeat corporate business results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.68 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite grew 0.47 percent.
Shares of the American First Republic Bank continued to sink sharply after it reported a drop in deposits in the first quarter, which reminded investors of the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and several other lenders last month.
In Seoul, top-cap shares opened mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.78 percent after it reported its first-quarter operating profit nose-dived 95 percent to 640.2 billion won (US$478 million), the worst quarterly figure in 14 years.
Major chipmaker SK hynix fell 1.03 percent, and Samsung SDI shed 0.14 percent.
But leading battery maker LG Energy Solution spiked 2.29 percent, and top chemical firm LG Chem went up 0.55 percent.
Large-cap bio shares lost ground, with Samsung Biologics skidding 1.15 percent and Celltrion losing 1.81 percent.
Internet giant Naver decreased 0.37 percent, and Kakao, the operator of the popular mobile messenger KakaoTalk, sank 1.81 percent.
But carmakers opened higher. No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor added 0.25 percent, and its affiliate Kia jumped 1.98 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,337.95 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.65 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
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