Seoul stocks down late Fri. morning on concerns over Fed’s combative tightening

SEOUL– South Korean shares traded lower late Friday morning amid concerns that the Fed is heading for more aggressive monetary tightening than expected to tame rising prices.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) shed 21.48 points, or 0.79 percent, to 2,695.23 as of 11:20 a.m.

Overnight, the U.S. stock markets ended down as investors faced renewed risks of the Fed’s monetary tightening to curb the highest inflation in four decades, following the remarks by New York Fed President John Williams that a half-percentage point hike is a “reasonable option.”

The 10-year Treasury yields rose to 2.8 percent, the highest level since December 2018.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3 percent, the S&P500 went down 1.2 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also shed 2.2 percent.

On the Seoul bourse, shares traded lower.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics declined 1.33 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 2.73 percent. LG Chem retreated 0.75 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor decreased 0.85 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,230.10 won against the U.S. dollar, down 5.4 won from the previous session’s close.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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