Kospi falls as Fed chair Jerome Powell stays quiet on rate cuts

Shares opened lower Wednesday as investors sat on the sidelines after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fell short of offering more details on the path of the Fed's rate policy.

A screen in Hana Bank’s trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Shares opened lower Wednesday as investors sat on the sidelines after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell fell short of offering more details on the path of the Fed's rate policy.

The benchmark Kospi fell 5.96 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,861.42 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 rose to record highs, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 0.13 percent.

During his congressional testimony, Powell said he is "not going to be sending any signal about the timing of future action" amid growing speculation in the market that a rate cut may happen in September at the earliest.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics fell 0.34 percent and SK hynix shed 0.42 percent.

Chemical shares also opened lower, with LG Chem moving down 0.97 percent and Amorepacific losing 0.89 percent.

Carmakers opened mixed, with Hyundai Motors rising 0.73 percent while its sister Kia lost 0.41 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,385.7 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 4.1 won from the previous session's close.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]