An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
Seoul shares opened lower Monday amid lingering rate hike concerns despite a series of data showing inflation is cooling.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 10.4 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,617.9 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Wall Street finished mixed Friday as US Federal officials said it was too early to declare victory over inflation.
The Dow Jones Industry Average gained 0.33 percent following big banks' earnings results, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite trimmed 0.18 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.1 percent.
In Seoul, most big-cap shares opened lower.
Market behemoth Samsung Electronics lost 0.41 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 0.51 percent. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor went down 0.72 percent.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 0.92 percent, and Samsung Biologics shed 0.81 percent. Major chemical company LG Chem also went down 1.32 percent.
Among gainers, steel giant Posco Holdings jumped 5.15 percent, and Posco Future M, the industrial materials unit of Posco Holdings, advanced 1.12 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,267 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 1.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
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