Seoul shares down for 4th day on geopolitical, rate policy woes

Korean stocks dipped nearly 1 percent Wednesday to expand their losing streak to a fourth day as investors’ concerns heightened on hawkish remarks by U.S. Federal Reserve officials and escalating tension in the Middle East. The Korean won rose against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index plunged 25.45 points, or 0.98 percent, to close at 2,584.18.

Trade volume was a little slim at 400.5 million shares worth 9.5 trillion won ($6.8 billion), with decliners outpacing gainers 456 to 406.

Foreigners and institutions unloaded local shares worth 179.6 billion won and 200.98 billion won, respectively, while retail investors bought 360.8 billion won worth of stocks.

Overnight, the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq edged down 0.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a forum in Washington that a series of recent inflation reports indicates it is likely to take longer than expected for the central bank to have confidence to start cutting its rates.

“Volatility increased in the stock market as hopes for early rate cuts were shattered on Powell’s hawkish remarks following the release of hotter-than-expected March inflation reports,” Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

In Seoul, most of the big-cap stocks went south.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics dropped 1.38 percent to 78,900 won, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix decreased 0.22 percent to 178,700 won.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 0.41 percent to 364,500 won, Samsung SDI edged down 0.13 percent to 386,000 won, and POSCO Future M plummeted 3.11 percent to 249,000 won.