Seoul shares down 1.54% late Friday morning on US-China tariff row

An electronic signboard at a Hana Bank dealing room in Seoul display stock movement, Friday. Yonhap

Korean stocks traded sharply lower late Friday morning amid an intensifying trade conflict between the United States and China stemming from Washington's reciprocal tariff scheme.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid 37.57 points, or 1.54 percent, to 2,407.49 as of 11:20 a.m.

Overnight, Wall Street, which rallied the previous session from U.S. President Donald Trump's pause on reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, plunged amid the intensifying tit-for-tat retaliatory tariff measures between Washington and Beijing.

The S&P 500 dropped 3.46 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.5 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite tumbled 4.31 percent.

In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics slipped 2.48 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix dropped 3.44 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution plunged 5.29 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor lost 4.87 percent.

Steel giant POSCO Holdings and leading refiner SK Innovation retreated 3.26 percent and 5.68 percent, respectively.

The local currency was trading at 1,451.55 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., up 4.85 won from the previous session.