Seoul shares traded lower late Monday morning amid lingering rate hike concerns despite a series of data showing inflation is cooling.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index had shed 8.45 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,619.85 as of 11:20 a.m.
Wall Street finished mixed Friday as U.S. Federal Reserve officials said it was too early to declare victory over inflation, indicating more rate hikes could come to bring inflation down to its 2 percent target.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.33 percent following big banks' earnings results, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite trimmed 0.18 percent and the S&P 500 lost 0.1 percent.
In Seoul, most big-cap shares traded lower.
Leading energy company LG Energy Solution shed 0.74 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix declined 0.76 percent. Market Bellwether Samsung Electronics remained flat.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor went down 1.44 percent, and its sister company Kia declined 1.47 percent. Samsung Biologics shed 0.94 percent, and major chemical company LG Chem also went down 1.03 percent.
Among gainers, steel giant POSCO Holdings jumped 6.49 percent, and POSCO Future M, the industrial materials unit of POSCO Holdings, advanced 2 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,266.4 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 0.6 won from the previous session's close.
Source: Yonhap News Agency