Seoul shares opened lower Tuesday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street.
After opening 0.95 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) traded down 57.86 points, or 0.92 percent, at 6,241.8 as of 9:15 a.m.
On Monday (local time), the U.S. stock market edged down from its all-time high the previous session as oil prices rose on uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen to shipping.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent from its record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent.
In Seoul, most large-cap shares traded lower.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics edged down 0.43 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix fell 1.97 percent.
The Korean won was trading at 1,418.5 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.2 won from the end of stock trading the previous day.