Seoul: South Korean stocks traded slightly lower late Wednesday morning due to losses from battery and defense shares after surpassing the 4,700-point mark. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 12.6 points, or 0.27 percent, to 4,680.04 as of 11:20 a.m.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the index fluctuated between negative and positive territory, reaching an all-time intraday high of 4,715.75 points at 9:48 a.m. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution fell 1.65 percent, and POSCO Future M slumped 4.57 percent. In the defense sector, Hanwha Aerospace lost 2.34 percent, and LIG Nex1 retreated 3.42 percent.

Shipbuilders were also weak, with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries sinking 4.19 percent and Hanwha Ocean tumbling 5.8 percent. Semiconductor shares, a key driver of the KOSPI's recent rally, showed mixed performance as Samsung Electronics rose 1.09 percent while SK hynix fell 0.88 percent. Hanmi Semiconductor, however, jumped 3.23 percent on a deal to provide high bandwidth memory (HBM) manufacturing equipment to SK hynix.

The local currency was trading at 1,478.2 won against the greenback at 11:20 a.m., down 4.3 won from the previous session.