Stocks close lower to end four days of gains

Stocks finished lower on Monday to snap a recent run of rises amid lingering rate hike woes. The won fell against the dollar. After choppy trading, the benchmark Kospi shed 9.3 points, or 0.35 percent, to finish at 2,619.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show the Kospi closing at 2,619.00 points on Monday, down 0.35 percent, or 9.30 points, from the previous trading session. [YONHAP]

Stocks finished lower on Monday to snap a recent run of rises amid lingering rate hike woes. The won fell against the dollar.

After choppy trading, the benchmark Kospi shed 9.3 points, or 0.35 percent, to finish at 2,619.

Trading volume was moderate at 540 million shares worth 11.5 trillion won ($9.1 billion), with decliners outpacing gainers 511 to 370.

Institutions and foreigners offloaded a net 232.3 billion won and 200.4 billion won worth of stocks, respectively, while retail investors bought a net 426.8 billion won worth of shares.

Wall Street finished mixed Friday as U.S. Federal Reserve officials said it was too early to declare victory on inflation, indicating more rate hikes could arrive to bring inflation down to its 2 percent target.

The Fed is widely expected to raise its policy rate later this month, which would bring the rate into the 5.25-5.5 percent range.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks ended lower.

Samsung Electronics shed 0.14 percent to finish at 73,300 won, and SK hynix lost 0.68 percent to 117,200 won.

LG Energy Solution declined 0.74 percent to 538,000 won.

Samsung SDI sank 2.93 percent to 695,000 won, and LG Chem retreated 1.47 percent to 670,000 won.

Hyundai Motor went down 2.4 percent to 203,500 won, and Kia dropped 2.37 percent to 86,600 won.

Among the gainers, Posco Holdings spiked 6.94 percent to 478,000 won on expectations of sound battery business performance.

Posco Future M grew 0.87 percent to 404,500 won.

Naver rose 0.98 percent to 206,500 won, and SK Innovation climbed 0.18 percent to 164,000 won.

LG H&H gained 0.97 percent to 469,000 won, and Amore Pacific hiked 1.32 percent to 107,100 won.

The local currency closed at 1,266.6 won against the dollar, up 0.8 won from the previous session's close.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed lower. The yield on three-year government bonds added 0.2 basis points to 3.616 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bonds advanced 6.4 basis points to 3.830 percent.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]