South Korean shares opened sharply lower Wednesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) fell 60.72 points, or 2.28 percent, to 2,603.91 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.51 percent to close at 40,936.93, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 3.26 percent.

Tech giants, including Nvidia and Intel, led the decline as the lower-than-expected US manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) spooked investors.

The US reported that its PMI for August stood at 47.2, lower than the market expectation of 47.5.

In Seoul, most large caps were taking a heavy beating, with market kingpin and tech giant Samsung Electronics losing 2.21 percent, while SK hynix, the world's No. 2 chipmaker, plunged 6.18 percent.

Top battery maker LG Energy Solution dipped 1.82 percent, with its local rival Samsung SDS falling 2.51 percent.

Leading automaker Hyundai Motor retreated 2.11 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors slipped 1.76 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,342.75 won against the US dollar, down 1.35 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)