Seoul shares trim earlier gains late Mon. morning; Korean won plunges

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- Seoul stocks erased most of the earlier gains late Monday morning on tech losses amid worries over the Fed's rate hikes and a global economic recession. The Korean won plunged against the U.S. dollar.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.11 percent, or 2.55 points, to 2,411.96 as of 11:20 a.m.

Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 135 billion won (US$98.6 million) worth of stocks, offsetting individuals' stock selling valued at 127 billion won.

The main index will move in a tight range as investors remain concerned over the Fed's aggressive monetary tightening to tame inflation and a global slowdown, analysts said.

The U.S. central bank has said it will continue interest rate hikes for some time to curb inflation. In July, the Fed raised its key interest rate by 75 basis points for the second straight month.

Tech shares turned lower, trimming the main index's earlier gains.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. fell 0.4 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. declined 0.8 percent.

Auto, steel and shipbuilding stocks were the lead gainers, with top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. rising 1.5 percent, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. gaining 1.6 percent and leading steelmaker POSCO Holdings climbing 2.2 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,370.45 won against the U.S. dollar, down 7.85 won from the previous session's close.

At 11:13 a.m., the won was at 1,370.1 against the greenback, the weakest level in 15 years and five months, since it traded at 1,392 won on April 1, 2009.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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