stocks-summary

SEOUL, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- Seoul shares ended lower Monday, tracking losses on Wall Street, as investors remained cautious ahead of third-quarter earnings reports from major chipmakers and the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision later this week.

The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.

After opening 0.92 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) extended its losses to close down 80.83 points, or 1.46 percent, at 5,469.47.

On Friday (U.S. time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.23 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.21 percent.

Investors are awaiting earnings reports from SK hynix on Wednesday and Samsung Electronics on Thursday for clues about the outlook for artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand and memory prices.

They are also closely watching the Fed's two-day policy meeting, which begins Tuesday, with the central bank widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged amid persistent inflationary pressure.

Foreigners sold a net 695.5 billion won (US$526 million) worth of stocks, while institutions and individuals bought a net 611 billion won and 47 billion won, respectively.

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