Seoul stocks slump late Thursday morning on yields hike concerns

Seoul (South Korea), March 4: South Korean stocks traded lower late Thursday morning as investor sentiment weakened following the overnight tech drop on Wall Street that was spurred by increased bond yields.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 37.75 points, or 1.22 percent, to 3,045.24 points as of 11:20 a.m.
Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 2.7 percent, with the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating 1.31 percent and 0.55 percent, respectively.
Steel and financial stocks fared strong on speculation of faster-than-expected recovery from the pandemic, while tech and auto heavyweights lost.
Top cap Samsung Electronics lost 1.79 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 3.4 percent.
Giant internet portal operator Naver fell 1.63 percent, with its rival Kakao moving down 1.72 percent.
Pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biologics declined 1.58 percent, but Celltrion edged up 0.17 percent.
Leading chemical firm LG Chem decreased 0.8 percent, and top automaker Hyundai Motor went down 2.08 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,126.7 won against the U.S. dollar, down 6.4 won from the previous session's close.
Source: Yonhap