[THE INVESTOR] South Korean shares opened nearly flat on Oct. 18 amid losses on Wall Street.

The benchmark KOSPI rose 0.27 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,027.88 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 51.98 points, or 0.3 percent, to 18,086.40.

Traders were careful as dozens of major firms are scheduled to report their quarterly results later this week. Their sentiment was also hit by the US Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer’s downbeat outlook for the economy.

On the Seoul bourse, top cap Samsung Electronics shed 0.31 percent and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. lost 0.57 percent.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 0.38 percent and major steelmaker POSCO gained 0.43 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,132.90 won against the US greenback, up 5 won from the previous session’s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)