Seoul: Seoul shares opened lower Wednesday, dragged down by losses in technology stocks, even as progress toward ending the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown eased investment jitters. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 8.1 points, or 0.2 percent, to 4,098.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight, U.S. stocks closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.18 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.25 percent. Technology shares on Wall Street weakened after SoftBank Group sold its entire stake in Nvidia Corp. to help finance artificial intelligence (AI) investments.

The record-setting 42-day U.S. government shutdown is expected to end as early as Wednesday (U.S. time) after the Senate passed a temporary spending package. U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed support for the legislation.

In Seoul, technology stocks led the decline. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 1.55 percent, and its chip rival SK hynix declined 2.91 percent. KT, the country's No. 2 wireless carrier, edged down 0.1 percent, and Samsung SDI, the No. 2 battery maker, lost 1.09 percent.

Among gainers, top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.93 percent, while its smaller affiliate Kia gained 0.86 percent. The local currency had been trading at 1,462.05 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 1.25 won from the previous session's close.