April 20, 2024
Market Now
Seoul stocks open lower on continued US tax reform woes
[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks opened lower on Nov. 14 due to continued worries that long-promised US corporate tax cuts may be delayed.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) declined 2.29 points, or 0.09 percent, to 2,528.06 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, fell 0.93 percent, and top steel maker POSCO slipped 0.31 percent.
Leading chemical firm LG Chem decreased 0.67 percent, and Naver, the nation‘s largest portal operator, fell 0.12 percent.
In contrast, tech shares advanced. Market kingpin Samsung Electronics edged up 0.64 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, rose 2.19 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,120.1 won against the US dollar, up 0.5 won from the previous session’s close.
By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)
