South Korean shares opened sharply lower on Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 11.57 points, or 0.57 percent, to 2,031.35 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The drop followed overnight losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.18 percent lower at 18,448.41 on Thursday, with the tech-laden Nasdaq also slipping 0.11 percent to 5,212.20.

Most large caps were in negative terrain.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics plunged 1.89 percent, while top automaker Hyundai Motor tumbled 1.10 percent.

Top portal operator Naver added 0.25 percent, but global steelmaker POSCO shed 0.22 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,116.40 won against the U.S. dollar, down 0.50 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap)