[THE INVESTOR] South Korean shares traded lower late morning on July 19, on losses in auto and tech stocks.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 9.1 points, or 0.45 percent, to 2,012.01 as of 11:20 a.m.

Large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 0.53 percent.

Global chipmaker SK hynix shed 2.29 percent, and POSCO, the country‘s leading steelmaker, dropped 3.29 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor fell 1.14 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors traded 0.85 percent lower.

In contrast, Naver, the operator of the country’s top Internet portal, rose 0.56 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,140.00 won against the US dollar, down 3.6 won from the previous session’s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)