Seoul shares down 0.3 pct in late morning trade

SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded 0.3 percent lower late Monday morning on losses in tech stocks but recouped some earlier losses on institutional buying.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 5.79 points to 1,873.08 as of 11:20 a.m.

Market heavyweights traded mixed.

Top market cap Samsung Electronics shed 0.8 percent, and global chipmaker SK hynix was down 0.5 percent.

No. 1 automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.72 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors fell 0.5 percent.

Samsung Corp., the de facto holding firm of Samsung Group, advanced 1.84 percent, and Naver, the operator of the country's largest Internet portal, gained 1.94 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,213.05 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 0.35 won from the previous session's close.

U.S. stocks plunged on Friday on fears that a further slide in oil prices could fuel disinflation around the globe.

The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 2.39 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite index shed 2.74 percent.

sam@yna.co.kr
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