S. Korean stocks open lower on tech slump

SEOUL, June 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened lower Friday due to losses in large-cap tech shares, despite overnight gains in Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index was down 6.43 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,096.72 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Most large caps traded mixed.

Market kingpin Samsung Electronics moved down 0.46 percent, and global chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.31 percent.

In contrast, top chemicals firm LG Chem was up 0.14 percent, and leading steelmaker POSCO moved up 0.42 percent.

On Thursday, U.S. stocks closed higher, with the Dow Jones industrial average moving up 0.39 percent.

The South Korean currency was trading at 1,183.5 won against the U.S. dollar, up 0.4 won from the previous session's close

khj@yna.co.kr
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