Seoul shares open lower on blue chip losses

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks got off to a weak start on Thursday, weighed down by falls in blue-chip exporters, analysts said.
   The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slumped 20.59 points, or 0.97 percent, to 2,109.05 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
   Shares lost ground across the board, with blue-chip exporters leading the decline. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics retreated almost 2 percent and OCI, the country's top polysilicon maker, tumbled nearly 8 percent.
   In contrast, chip giant Hynix Semiconductor rose around 1 percent. Korea Zinc, the world's No. 2 zinc smelter, jumped more than 3 percent on a rise in silver prices.
   The local currency was trading at 1,056.1 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 4.5 won from Wednesday's close.