Seoul:South Korean stocks opened lower on Monday despite advances in Wall Street, as hopes for a diplomatic resolution in the Iran conflict led to a decrease in oil prices.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped by 40.16 points, or 0.47 percent, reaching 7,040.76 by 9:15 a.m. This decline follows a four-session winning streak that extended into Wednesday, with the market being closed on Thursday and Friday due to the Chuseok holiday, South Korea's equivalent of Thanksgiving.
On the U.S. side, stocks closed higher on Friday, driven by gains in technology and industrial sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.93 percent, the S&P 500 increased by 0.51 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index went up by 0.48 percent. Meanwhile, Brent crude oil settled at approximately $104 per barrel following reports of Iran proposing a plan to resolve the ongoing conflict.
In Seoul, market heavyweights showed mixed performances. Samsung Electronics, holding the top market cap, fell by 1.14 percent, while chipmaker SK hynix decreased by 2.63 percent. SK Square, the parent company of SK hynix, saw a decline of 3.36 percent. Conversely, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronics component affiliate of Samsung Electronics, gained 4.31 percent.
The Korean won was trading at 1,357.1 against the U.S. dollar, marking a slight decrease of 0.1 won from the previous session's close.