Kospi tumbles 0.84% after Wall Street losses

Shares got off to a weak start Friday after overnight losses on Wall Street.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,824.35 points on Thursday, down 0.67 percent, or 18.94 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares got off to a weak start Friday after overnight losses on Wall Street.

The Kospi fell 23.81 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,800.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, Wall Street shares tumbled as a weeklong decline in tech and chip stocks expanded to other blue chips. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite dropped 0.78 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 1.29 percent.

In Seoul, most blue chips traded in negative territory. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix lost 1.5 percent and 0.47 percent, respectively.

Automotive stocks also extended their losses from the past few sessions. Hyundai Motor and Kia shed 1.54 percent and 1.84 percent, respectively.

Energy and financial shares also retreated. SK Innovation tumbled 2.76 percent, and KB Financial fell 0.59 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,386.45 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 4.75 won from the previous session's close.

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