Seoul: Seoul shares ended lower Monday, bucking gains on Wall Street on extended tech losses. The Korean won fell against the U.S. dollar. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 1.43 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 2,454.48.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the main index ended in the negative territory after opening sharply higher, jumping 23.63 points, or nearly 1 percent, in the first 15 minutes of trading on U.S. gains. On Friday (U.S. time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.42 percent to 44,910.65 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.83 percent to 19,218.17. Despite these gains, lacking major upside momentum, foreign and retail selling weighed heavily on the Seoul stock market.

“Tech stocks continued to fall due to concerns over upcoming trade disputes between the United States and China,” Park Hee-cheol, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities, remarked during a phone interview. Foreign and individual investors sold a combined 452.66 billion won worth of
stocks, overshadowing institutional purchases valued at 391.7 billion won.

The trade volume remained modest at 323.35 million shares worth 7.47 trillion won (US$5.3 billion), with the number of losers far surpassing that of winners, 675 to 216. Tech stocks were the primary decliners, with market bellwether Samsung Electronics falling 1.11 percent to 53,600 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix dipping 0.69 percent to 158,800 won. Leading home appliance maker LG Electronics dropped 1.67 percent to 88,200 won, while top carmaker Hyundai Motor shed 1.14 percent to 216,000 won.

Conversely, some sectors experienced gains. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution surged 2.62 percent to 391,500 won, and its local rival Samsung SDI climbed 1.77 percent to 259,000 won. The state-run utilities firm Korea Electric Power Corp. advanced 0.84 percent to 24,100 won, and Korea Aerospace Industries, the nation’s sole aircraft manufacturer, soared 2.05 percent to 59,600 won.

The local currency was trading at 1,401.3 won against
the greenback at 3:30 p.m., down 6.6 won from the previous session. Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher, with the yield on three-year Treasurys falling 4 basis points to 2.567 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds declining 5.4 basis points to 2.596 percent.