The South Korean stock market is trading lower on Thursday with investors tracking cues from Wall Street and pressing sales in some key stocks from the technology, banking and automobile sectors.
The benchmark KOSPI index, which edged up to around 1,777 in early trades, is currently down 2.9 points or 0.17% at 1,770.5.
Among technology stocks, Hynix Semiconductor and LG Display LCD are trading lower by 2.3% and 3.5% respectively. Samsung Electronics is down with a loss of about 1% and LG Electronics is trading lower by 0.5%.
Bank stocks Korea Exchange Bank, Woori Finance, KB Financial and Shinhan Financial are down with modest losses.
Automobile stocks Kia Motor, Ssangyong Motor and Hyundai Motor are trading lower by 0.3%-0.7%. Among shipping stocks, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries are down 1.8% and 0.4% respectively. STX Pan Ocean is up 0.5%, while Daewoo Shipbuilding is trading flat.
Steel stocks Hyundai Steel and POSCO are down 1.3% and 1% respectively. Oil, telecommunications and airlines stocks are trading mixed.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan are trading weak, while Shanghai, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand are up with modest gains. Markets across the region ended mostly higher on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks posted notable losses on Wednesday, as the Federal Reserve's Beige Book showed some signs of a stalling economic recovery and the Commerce Department reported an unexpected drop in durable goods orders.
The major averages moved well off their worst levels of the day going into the close but remained stuck in the red. The Dow ended lower by 39.8 points or 0.4% at 10,497.9, the Nasdaq declined by 23.7 points or 1% to 2,264.6 and the S&P 500 slid by 7.7 points or 0.7% to 1,106.1.
Major European markets ended largely on the downside on Wednesday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the German DAX index lost 0.9% and 0.5% respectively, while the French CAC 40 index edged up by 0.1%.
Crude oil prices declined for a second day, weighed down by an unexpected increase in U.S. crude inventories and a drop in orders for durable goods. Light, sweet crude for September delivery settled lower by US$0.51 at US$76.99 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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