Seoul shares down in late morning trade

SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded lower late Thursday morning as foreign investors went on selloff, analysts said.

After starting in positive territory, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 6.08 points, or 0.31 percent, to 1,930.89 as of 11:20 a.m.

Foreigners dumped a net 23.7 billion won (US$22.4 million) worth of local shares, offsetting a net 21.3 billion won purchase by institutional investors.

SK hynix, South Korea's second-largest memory chip manufacturer, fell 1.3 percent despite record-high quarterly profit in the third quarter released earlier in the morning.

Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.62 percent ahead of its third-quarter earnings announcement in the afternoon.

KB Financial advanced 2.73 percent after its former chief financial officer was named as new chairman on Wednesday.

The local currency was trading at 1,054.75 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 3.35 won from Wednesday's close.

brk@yna.co.kr
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