Seoul: Seoul shares trimmed earlier losses late Thursday morning amid concerns over political turmoil following President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived attempt at martial law. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 5.45 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,458.55 as of 11:20 a.m. According to Yonhap News Agency, individuals and institutions bought 157.58 billion won (US$111 million) and 19.19 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, offsetting foreign selling valued at 215.84 billion won. Late Tuesday, Yoon declared martial law, accusing the main opposition Democratic Party of being "anti-state forces" paralyzing the operation of the nation with impeachment motions and a downsized budget bill. However, Yoon abandoned the martial law attempt, the country's first such motion in over four decades, early Wednesday after the National Assembly voted to overturn the declaration. Opposition parties submitted a motion on Wednesday to impeach the president over the botched martial law. Tech and energy stocks were lead gainers. Market behemoth Samsung Electronics rose 1.68 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix jumped 3.99 percent, and leading display maker Samsung SDS gained 0.15 percent. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution rose 0.26 percent, leading refiner SK Innovation climbed 0.09 percent, and state-run Korea Gas Corp. was up 3.92 percent. Among decliners, top carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 1.67 percent, its smaller affiliate Kia Corp. declined 2.75 percent, and steelmaker POSCO Holdings was down 1.1 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,414.35 won against the U.S. dollar at 11:20 a.m., down 4.25 won from the previous session.