Seoul shares down nearly 1.5 pct late Fri. morning

stocks-morning

Seoul shares down nearly 1.5 pct late Fri. morning

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded markedly lower late Friday morning, as big-cap shares lost ground across the board amid U.S. rate hike woes.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had declined 37.4 points, or 1.46 percent, to 2,518.89 as of 11:20 a.m.

Foreign investors and institutions sold off a net 558 billion won (US$426.4 million) worth of shares, while retail investors bought a total of 532.2 billion won.

Investors remained wary of the U.S. Federal Reserve's potential additional rate hikes following strong employment data. The concerns caused U.S. shares to tumble overnight.

In Seoul, most big-cap shares logged sharp losses.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics dropped 2.37 percent after its second-quarter operating profit was estimated to have plunged about 96 percent from a year earlier amid an extended slump in the semiconductor business.

No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix also fell almost 1.7 percent, and leading chemical producer LG Chem went down 1.05 percent.

Top automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia both retreated nearly 1.5 percent.

Battery makers also lost ground, with market leader LG Energy Solution sliding 1.42 percent and its smaller rival Samsung SDI falling 0.57 percent.

LG Electronics also declined 2.39 percent ahead of the release of its second-quarter earnings guidance later in the day.

The state-run utility firm KEPCO dived almost 2.7 percent.

The local currency was changing hands at 1,308.3 won against the greenback at 11:20 a.m., down 7.4 won from Thursday's close.

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