Seoul: Seoul shares trimmed earlier gains late Wednesday morning on retail selling despite eased concerns over the U.S. administration's tariff sanctions. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had fallen 15.16 points, or 0.58 percent, to 2,630.97 as of 11:20 a.m.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the KOSPI opened higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw a marginal increase of 0.01 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 0.46 percent. However, retail investors sold a net 281.12 billion won (US$192 million) worth of stocks, which offset the stock purchases by institutions and foreigners valued at 149.86 billion won and 113.38 billion won, respectively.
On Monday (U.S. time), U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that there could be possible exemptions or reductions in tariffs for trading partners that contribute to generating American jobs. Despite this, Tuesday's weak U.S. economic data weighed on investor sentiment, analysts said.
In Seoul, tech and auto stocks were lead gainers. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 2.51 percent, and chip giant SK hynix jumped 3.12 percent. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor climbed 2.05 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia was up 0.89 percent. Among decliners, leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 0.87 percent, and leading steelmaker POSCO Holdings shed 0.16 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,465.25 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., up 3.95 won from the previous session.