Seoul shares down on deepening recession woes

SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened lower Monday as investor worries deepened that global financial turmoil is sending the real economy into a recession, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 10.92 points, or
1.16 percent, to 927.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
The setback came after U.S. stocks continued to lose ground. On Friday, the Dow
Jones industrial average dived 3.59 percent in a worldwide sell-off and the
tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index also fell 3.23 percent.
Earlier in the day, the Bank of Korea, the nation's central bank, announced that
it will soften restrictions on the use of foreign currency loans in the latest
move to stabilize the wobbling financial markets.
The local currency was trading at 1,403.75 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15
a.m., up 20.25 won from Friday's close.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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