Seoul shares down late Wed. morning on US losses

Korean stocks lost ground late Wednesday morning, as investors unloaded blue chips following overnight U.S. stock losses amid lingering uncertainties stemming from President Donald Trump's tariff measures. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) dropped 16.76 points, or 0.68 percent, to 2,460.65 as of 11:20 a.m. Overnight, Wall Street closed slightly lower as lingering tariff uncertainty swayed investors to move to the sidelines. The S&P 500 fell 0.17 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.38 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 0.05 percent. In Seoul, semiconductor and automotive shares led the overall decline. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics plummeted 2.65 percent, and its chip rival SK hynix plunged 3.1 percent following Washington's decision to impose new curbs on Nvidia's H20 artificial intelligence chip exports to China. Top automaker Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia also retreated 1.71 percent and 0.47 percent, respectively. Leading bio firm Samsung Biologics and top battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution dropped 0.77 percent and 0.58 p