Seoul stocks open lower Wednesday following Wall Street

Seoul stocks opened lower Wednesday, taking a cue from overnight falls on Wall Street, as the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to hold its interest-setting meeting.

Electronic display boards at Hana Bank in central Seoul show stock and foreign exchange markets Wednesday morning. [YONHAP]

Seoul stocks opened lower Wednesday, taking a cue from overnight falls on Wall Street, as the U.S. Federal Reserve is set to hold its interest-setting meeting.

The benchmark Kospi fell 8.8 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,326.42 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

U.S. stocks closed lower as a surprising rebound in U.S. job opening data dashed investors' hopes the central bank may slow down the pace of rate hikes.

The S&P500 fell by 0.41 percent, the Dow Jones Index by 0.24 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq by 0.89 percent.

The data comes as investors wait for the Fed's policy meeting scheduled Wednesday, local time.

In Seoul, most large cap shares started weak.

Samsung Electronics inched down 0.83 percent, while SK hynix added 0.12 percent.

Hyundai Motor dipped 1.52 percent, LG Chem advanced 0.58 percent, and LG Energy Solution climbed 0.89 percent.

The local currency was trading hands at 1,419.7 won against the greenback, up 2.5 won from the previous session's close, as of 9:15 a.m.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, YONHAP [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]