Seoul stocks down late Friday morning despite tech rally on Wall Street
Financial data is displayed at the dealing room of Hana Bank in central Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
Seoul stocks were trading lower late Friday morning, despite an overnight advances on Wall Street, as investors dumped tech heavyweights ahead of the Jackson Hole meeting.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was trading down 55.66 points, or 0.81 percent, to 6,856.71 as of 11:20 a.m., as retail investors and foreigners became net sellers.
U.S. stocks closed higher overnight, lifted by forecast-beating earnings from Nvidia and advances in other artificial intelligence (AI)-related shares.
Investors are closely following what Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, will say in the Jackson Hole Symposium later in day, for cues on the central bank's next policy direction.
Market top-cap Samsung Electronics was down 1.97 percent, along with industry rival SK hynix, which shed 1.21 percent.
Among the gainers was Hyundai Motor which inched up 0.38 percent, major financial firm KB Financial, which added 0.65 percent, and nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility, which rose 1.22 percent.
The Korean won was quoted at 1,378.3 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 3.2 won from the previous stock trading session.