Seoul shares open sharply lower on U.S. losses

SEOUL, Aug. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks began sharply lower on Tuesday as overnight panic selling on Wall Street froze investor sentiment here, analysts said.
After opening 3.29 percent down, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) extended losses, sinking below the psychologically important 1,800 level. In the first 5 minutes of trading, KOSPI tumbled 84.66 points, 4.53 percent, to 1,784.79.
U.S. stocks nosedived on Monday, the first trading session since Standard & Poor's downgraded the credit rating of the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average sank 5.5 percent and the tech-focused Nasdaq composite index tumbled 6.9 percent.
The local currency traded at 1,095.2 won to the U.S. dollar as of 9:05 a.m., down 12.2 won from Monday's close.