Seoul stocks closed lower for the fourth consecutive session Tuesday, as investors digest macro uncertainties, and the latest calls from artificial intelligence leaders that the industry should slow down the pace of development. The Korean won slid against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 57.11 points, or 0.85 percent, to 6,627.26.
Trade volume was light at 274 million shares worth 16.2 trillion won ($11.9 billion). Losers outnumbered winners 621 to 253.
Retail investors were net buyers, snatching up 833.13 billion won. Institutional and foreign investors offloaded a combined net 2.48 trillion won worth of shares.
"Although there were no new negative factors, investors seemed to be sensitive to external uncertainties, such as rates and additional rises in global oil prices," Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst from Daishin Securities, said.
Brent Crude, the international oil benchmark has risen around 1.6 percent to above $107 per barrel, after the yield on 10-year US Treasurys breached 5 percent.
Investors are also keenly following the rate-setting meeting of the Federal Reserve this week, widely expected to deliver a rate-hike decision, the analyst added.
In Seoul, most market heavyweights closed lower.
Top-cap Samsung Electronics inched down 0.2 percent to 248,500 won, while SK hynix shed 0.41 percent to 1,690,000 won.
Defense companies lost ground on profit taking. Hanwha Aerospace tumbled 6.51 percent to 1,063,000 won, and LIG Defense & Aerospace dipped 4.82 percent to 671,000 won.
Among the winners were battery makers, boosted by President Donald Trump's formal criticism against Ford Motor Company over its business partnership with Chinese automotive firms.
Battery heavyweight LG Energy Solution strengthened 3.98 percent to 365,500 won, and Samsung SDI rose 2.82 percent to 547,000 won.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,359.4 won against the US dollar, down 12.1 won from the previous trading session, as of 3:30 p.m. (Yonhap)
