Stocks open lower as foreign, institutional investors sell

Stocks opened lower Thursday on institutional and foreign off-loading. The benchmark Kospi fell 15.79 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,592.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show stock and foreign exchange markets close on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened lower Thursday on institutional and foreign off-loading.

The benchmark Kospi fell 15.79 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,592.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.31 percent to 35,061.21 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.03 percent to 14,358.02.

Investors see no major risk of recession but still remain cautious due to forecasts that the U.S. central bank may raise rates further this year to bring inflation in line with its target of 2 percent, analysts said.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks declined across the board.

Samsung Electronics fell 0.3 percent, and SK hynix declined 0.08 percent.

Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, plunged 5.5 percent.

Among gainers, Hyundai Motor rose 1 percent, and Korean Air Lines climbed 1 percent.

SK Innovation gained 2.5 percent, and HMM was up 0.8 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,266.3 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 0.7 won from the previous session's close.

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