Seoul: Seoul stocks opened lower Monday, as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of major events, including the upcoming earnings release from U.S. chip giant Nvidia. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.73 percent, or 50.77 points, at 6,862.18 in the first minute of trading.

According to Yonhap News Agency, after closing above 6,900 points on Friday, the index lost ground as investors locked in gains from large-cap chip stocks. They are closely monitoring the forthcoming earnings release from Nvidia for insights into the future direction of the artificial intelligence (AI) market.

Despite a rise in U.S. government bond yields, major stock indexes on Wall Street closed higher last week as investors went bargain hunting. The S and P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both closed up 0.43 percent.

Investors are also keeping an eye on the Jackson Hole meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve, as well as the upcoming policy meeting of the Bank of Korea this week. Market top-caps were trading mixed, with Samsung Electronics shedding 5.33 percent, while its industry rival SK hynix added 2.02 percent. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor inched up 0.24 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace advanced 1.84 percent, while KB Financial shed 2.43 percent.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,383.8 won against the U.S. dollar, up 2.2 won from the close of the previous stock trading session.