Kospi opens lower despite U.S. rally

Stocks opened lower Friday, bucking overnight gains on Wall Street, while investors sat on the sidelines ahead of the Jackson Hall meeting set to provide clues on the Federal Reserve's rate policy.

The Kospi opened down 65.83 points, or 0.95 percent, to 6,846.54 as of 9:15 a.m.

Overnight, major stock indexes on Wall Street closed higher, with the S&P 500 adding 0.72 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumping 1.57 percent.

The U.S. market was mainly led by tech companies related to AI, like Nvidia, which sharply rose following its forecast-beating earnings.

Federal Reserve Gov. Kevin Warsh is set to deliver his first major speech as chairman of the central bank later in the day at the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming.

"Market watchers are closely following whether the Kospi could land above 7,000 points, but fortunately, there is a lot of upward momentum in terms of valuation piling up," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities.

In Seoul, most large cap shares were trading lower.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics dipped 1.5 percent, while industry rival SK hynix retreated 1.79 percent.

Bio firm Samsung Biologics fell 5.9 percent on its announcement to raise additional capital through a rights offering.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace declined 1.48 percent, financial firm KB Financial inched down 0.89 percent, and shipper HD Hyundai Heavy Industries added 0.96 percent.

The local currency weakened by 0.8 won from the previous session to trade at 1,380.7 against the dollar.

Yonhap