An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap) South Korean shares opened nearly 1 percent lower Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street sparked by woes over an artificial intelligence bubble and jobs.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 39.52 points, or 0.98 percent, to 3,986.93 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, major US indexes closed lower on revived fears over stretched valuation of AI-related shares and data showing a cooling labor market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.84 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite dipped 1.9 percent, and the S&P 500 went down 1.12 percent.
The latest data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. revealed that US companies announced 153,074 job cuts last month, marking almost a threefold increase from the same month last year.
In Seoul, most big-cap stocks started in negative territory.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics lost 0.2 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix dipped 1.35 percent.
Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor retreated 1.49 percent, and its sister Kia dropped 1.16 percent.
Major power plant builder Doosan Enerbility declined 1.89 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace slid 3.92 percent.
Shipbuilders were also weak, with HD Hyundai Heavy down 1.9 percent, Hanwha Ocean shedding 1.63 percent and HD Korea Shipbuilding going down 1.55 percent.
Electric equipment manufacturer HD Hyundai Electric also plunged 4.11 percent.
Financial shares were among the few gainers, with KB Financial rising 0.72 percent and Shinhan Financial gaining 0.38 percent.
Top battery maker LG Energy Solution also added 0.32 percent.
The local currency had been trading at 1,449.3 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.6 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)