Seoul stocks down 2.69 pct in late morning

SEOUL, June 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks tumbled 2.69 percent late Tuesday
morning as overnight U.S. tumbles stoked foreign sell-offs, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) slid 37.62 percent to
trade at 1,362.09 as of 11:25 a.m.

"Wall Street losses pummeled the key index here by fueling enormous futures
selling by foreign investors," said Kim Young-joon, an analyst at SK Securities.
"Foreign investors are wary of a potential tightening of U.S. monetary policy as
they await comments from the Fed this week."
Led by builders and steel makers, most sectors traded sharply lower as investors
went on a broad-based selling spree.
The local currency was trading at 1,286.3 won to the U.S. dollar as of 11:20,
down 11.8 won from Monday's close.
pbr@yna.co