South Korean share prices opened lower on Tuesday on faltering fourth-quarter earnings posted by some of the nation’s top companies.
Share prices are displayed at the Korea Exchange in Yeouido, southwestern Seoul. (Yonhap)
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened lower at 1881.87, and lost 12.58 points, or 0.66 percent, during the first 15 minutes of trading.
The index was trading more than 1 percent lower at 1869.41 as of 10:07 a.m.
Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics declined 0.86 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor slipped 1.45 percent ahead of its quarterly earnings report scheduled for later in the day.
Share prices of SK hynix, the world’s second-largest chipmaker, rose 1.61 percent despite the company reported a 46.3 percent decline in its fourth-quarter profit
The local currency was trading at 1,200.4 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 6.2 won from Monday’s close.
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)
