Shares open lower on Europe’s debt woes

Korean stocks started lower on Friday as investor sentiment was chilled by overnight falls in U.S. markets, driven by the eurozone debt crisis, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 35.09 points, or 1.87 percent, to trade at 1,841.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

U.S. markets closed lower on Thursday as rising Spanish bond yields spawned fears about crisis contagion. The Dow Jones industrial average shed 1.13 percent and the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index fell 1.96 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,140.10 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 9.4 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap)