S . Korean shares down 0 . 04 pct in late morning trade SEOUL , April 5 ( Yonhap ) -- South Korean stocks traded lower late Wednesday morning as foreigners continued to offload stocks . The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index lost 0 . 79 points , or 0 . 04 percent , to 2 , 160 . 31 as of 11 : 15 a . m . The broad index bucked overnight gains on Wall Street . The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0 . 19 percent , with the tech - heavy Nasdaq composite index climbing 0 . 07 percent . Bae Sung - young , a market analyst at KB Securities Co . , said foreigners continued to sell South Korean stocks and there is no momentum that could push up the main index . Most large - cap stocks were mixed across the board . Naver , the top Internet portal operator , gained 0 . 12 percent , and top steelmaker POSCO was up 1 . 09 percent . Meanwhile , market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0 . 10 percent , and No . 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc . was down 0 . 39 percent . The local currency was trading at 1 , 122 . 50 won against the U . S . dollar , down 0 . 60 won from the previous session ' s close . entropy @ yna . co . kr ( END )