SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened lower Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 45.14 points, or 1.87 percent, to 2,362.48 in the first 20 minutes of trading.
The decline followed losses in the U.S. market. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 4.15 percent, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index declining 3.90 percent.
Most large-cap stocks fell across the board.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. fell 2.61 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, was down 0.68 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,096.40 won against the U.S. dollar, down 8.50 won from the previous session's close.
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