SEOUL, South Korean stocks traded 0.37 percent lower late Tuesday morning as big-cap battery shares lost ground.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index had fallen 10.23 points to 2,731.91 as of 11:20 a.m.
Overnight, major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 0.7 percent to hit a record high on chip rally ahead of Nvidia’s earnings release Wednesday (local time) and SandP 500 up 0.1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.5 percent lower.
In Seoul, battery shares led the decline.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution dropped 1.88 percent, and its smaller rivals Samsung SDI and POSCO Future M slid 2 percent and 2.21 percent, respectively.
Steel giant POSCO Holdings dropped 1.62 percent, and top chemical producer LG Chem shed 2.04 percent.
Chip and auto shares were mixed.
Samsung Electronics retreated 0.38 percent, while SK hynix jumped 1 percent.
Hyundai Motor gained 0.2 percent, while Kia and Hyundai Mobis lost 0.61 percent and 1.32 percent, re
spectively.
The local currency was trading at 1,367.40 won against the U.S. dollar, down 11.5 won from the previous session’s close.
Source: Yonhap News Agency