SEOUL, South Korean stocks traded flat late Tuesday morning as institutions and foreign investors unloaded blue chips despite overnight gains on Wall Street.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.3 point, or 0.01 percent, to 2,629.14 as of 11:20 a.m.
Overnight, the SandP 500 rose 0.9 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 percent, as investors looked forward to positive first-quarter corporate earnings reports this week.
Steel and battery shares retreated, with top steel maker POSCO Holdings down 0.63 percent and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution sliding 1.85 percent.
Energy and chemical shares also lost ground, with top refiner SK Innovation falling 2.17 percent and leading chemical company LG Chem dropping 1.85 percent.
Entertainment giant Hybe plummeted 4.24 percent, following news of its managerial dispute with ADOR, the subsidiary label behind K-pop girl group NewJeans.
In contrast, tech and financial shares g
ained ground, with Samsung Electronics adding 0.13 percent and Kookmin Financial advancing 4.03 percent.
Auto shares also continued to advance. Industry leader Hyundai Motor and its subsidiary Kia rose 1.02 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively.
The local currency was trading at 1,377.75 won against the greenback, up 1.45 won from the previous session’s close.
Source: Yonhap News Agency