South Korean stocks opened almost flat Tuesday as investors were cautious on concerns over a possible tapering of economic stimulus by the United States, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) inched down 0.62 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,999.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Blue chip shares traded mixed, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics moving down 0.76 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor climbing 1.09 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO shed 0.59 percent.

Brokerage houses traded bearish, with KDB Daewoo Securities falling 0.89 percent and Woori Investment & Securities decreasing

0.49 percent. Samsung Securities traded unchanged from the previous trading session.

The local currency was trading at 1,052.15 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 0.85 won from Monday's close. (Yonhap News)