An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday, tracking Wall Street losses as rising oil prices fueled inflation concerns and lifted US Treasury yields amid tensions in the Middle East.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or KOSPI, fell 13.31 points, or 0.19 percent, to 6,876.43 as of 9:15 a.m.

Overnight, US stocks retreated as renewed tensions between the United States and Iran drove crude oil prices higher, fueling concerns that higher energy costs could keep inflation and interest rates high.

Treasury yields extended their climb, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising to 5.23 percent and the 30-year yield climbing to 5.55 percent, hovering around multiyear highs.

The S&P 500 fell 0.77 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.67 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite decreased 0.92 percent.

Market heavyweights were mixed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.93 percent, and chip giant SK hynix inched up 0.11 percent.

In contrast, leading automaker Hyundai Motor shed 1.4 percent, while battery maker LG Energy Solution declined 2.57 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,359.6 won against the US dollar, up 0.3 won from the close of the previous trading session. (Yonhap)