Seoul shares trim earlier gains on retail selling

Seoul shares trimmed earlier gains late Friday morning on retail selling. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) had risen 1 percent, or 25.70 points, to 2,606.50 as of 11:20 a.m. The KOSPI opened higher, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3 percent to 42,025.19 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.5 percent to 18,013.98. On Wednesday (U.S. time), the Fed kicked off its monetary-easing cycle by cutting its overnight lending rate by half a percentage point to a range of 4.75 percent to 5 percent. The U.S. central bank also pledged further rate cuts. Institutions and foreigners bought a combined 304.8 billion won (US$229 million) worth of stocks, exceeding individuals' stock selling valued at 293 billion won. In Seoul, tech stocks were lead gainers. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.1 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. climbed 3.1 percent, top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. advanced 1.4 percent, and leading b attery maker LG Energy Solution Ltd. was up 3.3 percent. Among decliners, national flag carrier Korean Air Co. fell 0.2 percent, leading refiner SK Innovation Co. declined 1.2 percent, and leading wireless services provider SK Telecom Co. shed 1 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,330.35 won against the U.S. dollar, down 1.35 won from the previous session. Source: Yonhap News Agency