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Kospi opens lower on hawkish Fed comments

Published: 11 Feb. 2026, 09:57

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi trading in the morning hours on Feb. 11. [YONHAP]

Korean stocks kicked off lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, amid a weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales report and hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials.

The Kospi lost 38.16 points, or 0.72 percent, to 5,263.53 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed 0.59 percent lower, and the S&P 500 lost 0.33 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 percent.

The weaker-than-expected U.S. retail sales data for December reinforced investor bets for the Fed's interest cut, but comments by Fed officials sapped such hopes.

Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and Lorie Logan, Dallas Fed chief, both said the Fed should put its interest rate cuts on hold.

Traders are now waiting for the releases of U.S. jobs and consumer prices reports due out later this week.

In Seoul, semiconductor heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK hynix started weak, losing 1.99 percent and 2.85 percent, respectively.

AI investment firm SK Square slid 2.76 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace dipped 1.13 percent.

Financial and bio shares were strong.

KB Financial jumped 2.64 percent, and Shinhan Financial added 1.02 percent. Samsung Biologics went up 0.94 percent, and Celltrion soared 4.62 percent.

The won strengthened by 1.3 won from the previous session to trade at 1,457.8 against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m.

Yonhap