South Korean stocks opened lower Tuesday despite overnight gains on Wall Street due to foreign and institutional sell-offs.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 9.17 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,557.69 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the S&P 500 gained 0.5 percent to continue its weekslong rally and the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.6 percent to hit a record high for the second consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed flat.

In Seoul, most of the big-cap shares started in negative territory.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics fell 0.14 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.59 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution retreated 0.59 percent and its smaller rival Samsung SDI shed 0.66 percent.

Steel giant Posco Holdings was sharply down by 1.43 percent and its battery component making affiliate Posco Future M plunged more than 2 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor also slipped 0.47 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia dropped 0.45 percent.

Leading chemical producer LG Chem also slid 1.31 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,300.40 won against the US dollar, down 3.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)