Seoul shares trim earlier losses late Wed. morning

South Korean stocks trimmed earlier losses late Wednesday morning as large-cap shares traded in mixed territory. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 8.57 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,609.23 as of 11:20 a.m. Overnight, Wall Street finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4 percent, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.8 percent to a record high on better-than-expected earnings from Alphabet, the parent company of Google. In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.89 percent and its sister Kia retreated 0.21 percent. Leading oil refiner SK Innovation declined 0.91 percent and major shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean decreased 3.87 percent. But tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.17 percent and its chipmaking rival SK hynix gained 2.26 percent. LG Energy Solution, South Korea's leading EV battery provider, added 0.86 percent and game publisher NCSOFT climbed 2.57 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,382.8 won against the U.S. dollar, up 3.7 won from the previous session. Source: Yonhap News Agency