South Korean stocks opened lower Wednesday on foreign selling and losses on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 4.42 points, or 0.21 percent, to 2,144.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Two major factors weighed on the main index. Foreign investors offloaded local stocks and the Dow Jones industrial average lost 0.55 percent.

Tech and automobile stocks led losses, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics falling 0.58 percent and top carmaker Hyundai Motor declining 1.06 percent. Leading steelmaker POSCO was down 0.56 percent.

Among gainers were refiners and builders. No. 1 refiner SK Innovation rose 0.62 percent and Samsung C&T advanced 0.78 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,138.55 won against the US dollar, a gain of 3.85 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)