Seoul shares open lower on U.S. losses

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Thursday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slipped 25.58 points, or 1.18 percent, to 2,148.73 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Stocks traded in the negative territory across the board with market bellwether Samsung Electronics falling 1.42 percent. POSCO, South Korea's leading steelmaker, tumbled 1.8 percent and biggest automaker Hyundai Motor went down 0.62 percent. LG Innotek, an electronics parts maker affiliated with South Korea's LG Group, plunged 2.07 percent, after reporting that it swung into the red in the second quarter. U.S. stocks tumbled on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve's "Beige Book" report showed the pace of the recovery slowing in most districts surveyed. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1.59 percent and the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index fell 2.65 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,052.45 won to the greenback as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.45 won from Wednesday's close.