South Korean stocks traded lower Monday morning, with market heavyweights coming under foreign selling.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 7.98 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,370.53 as of 11:15 a.m.


Market kingpin Samsung Electronics fell 1.49 percent.

SK hynix, a major chipmaker, declined 1.02 percent, and POSCO, the No. 1 steelmaker, was down 0.6 percent.

Naver, the country's top Internet portal operator, gained 0.5 percent.

Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, remained flat.

The local currency was trading at 1,121.45 won against the US dollar, up 6.75 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)