Seoul stocks opened sharply lower on Friday as investors paused after a tech rally amid uncertainty over the U.S.-Iran peace deal.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened down 316.21 points, or 3.66 percent, at 8,323.2. By 9:15 a.m. it had fallen further to 8,190.25, a drop of 449.16 points or 5.2 percent. The Korea Exchange suspended program trading for five minutes at 9:08 a.m. after the KOSPI 200 Futures index fell more than 5 percent. Samsung Electronics declined 6.69 percent and rival SK hynix fell 8.83 percent. Hyundai Motor dropped 5.29 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics lost 5.13 percent. The Korean won traded at 1,535.15 won per dollar, up 5.45 won from the previous session.
