Seoul shares sharply down late Wed. morning on U.S. woes

South Korean shares continued to trade sharply lower late Wednesday morning, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 60.60 points, or 2.27 percent, to 2,604.03 as of 11:20 a.m. The index had opened slightly lower, taking a cue from heavy losses on Wall Street led by sharp declines in tech giants such as Nvidia due to growing concerns of a looming downturn in the tech industry. A worse-than-expected U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) also spooked investors, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down by 1.51 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 3.26 percent. In Seoul, most large caps were in negative terrain. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 2.76 percent, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix plummeted 6.65 percent. Top battery maker LG Energy Solution slipped 0.97 percent, while its local rival Samsung SDS gained 0.84 percent. Leading pharmaceutical firm Celltrion retreated 1.83 percent, with top portal operator Naver tum bling 3.21 percent. Bank shares were also taking heavy beatings. KB Financial was down 2.41 percent, while Shinhan Financial fell 1.57 percent. Top automaker Hyundai Motor lost 1.05 percent, with its smaller affiliate Kia Motors shedding 1.27 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,341.05 won against the U.S. dollar, up 0.35 won from the previous session. Source: Yonhap News Agency