Seoul shares trade down 0.23 pct late morning

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded 0.23 percent lower late Wednesday morning, briefly recovering sharp losses triggered by renewed inter-Korean military tension, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 1.17 points to
trade at 1,633.52 as of 11:20 a.m.
Seoul officials said South and North Korea fired artillery shells over waters
near the inter-Korean sea border earlier in the morning, driving the key stock
index down by as much as 1 percent at one point.
The key index swiftly reduced its losses as the brief exchange was reported to
have ended without any damage.
Lingering concerns over a U.S. plan to cap risky trading by big banks, however,
still put a drag on the local market, with foreign investors turning to net
sellers.
The local currency was trading at 1,157.65 won to the U.S. dollar, up 5.65 won
from Tuesday's close, after the Bank of Korea said earlier in the morning the
nation's current account swung to an all-time high surplus of US$42.67 billion in
2009, from a shortfall of $5.78 billion the previous year.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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