Seoul stocks open down on Wall Street setbacks

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Friday as investor sentiment was dented by pullbacks in U.S. markets, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) lost 18.35 points, or
1.57 percent, to 1,148.21 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
The downswing comes after U.S. stocks retreated Thursday on renewed worries about
the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 2.7 percent and the
tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index fell 3.24 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,382.6 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m.,
down 4.1 won from Thursday's close.
kokobj@yna.co.kr
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