South Korean stocks traded lower late Tuesday morning as foreigners and institutions offloaded shares following overnight losses on Wall Street, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened in negative territory and fell to 1,918.24 as of 11:20 a.m., a loss of 0.14 percent, or 2.71 points, from Monday' close.

South Korean chipmaker SK hynix slipped 1.69 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO shed 2.41 percent. Naver, the country's largest portal operator, fell 0.93 percent.

Samsung affiliates including Cheil Industries and Samsung SDS dropped 3.73 percent and 6.75 percent, respectively. Samsung Life, which currently has the eighth-largest market capitalization on the local bourse, lost 0.43 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,082.15 against the U.S. dollar, down 0.75 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)