▲ Traders are seen working inside the dealing room of Hana Bank in central Seoul, on Aug. 24, 2026. (Yonhap)

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SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- Seoul stocks opened lower Monday, as investors sat on the sidelines ahead of major events, including the upcoming earnings release from U.S. chip giant Nvidia.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.73 percent, or 50.77 points, at 6,862.18 in the first 1 minute of trading.

After closing above 6,900 points on Friday, the index lost ground as investors locked in gains from large-cap chip stocks as they closely follow the upcoming earnings release from Nvidia for hints on the future direction of the artificial intelligence (AI) market.

Major stocks indexes on Wall Street closed higher last week despite a rise in U.S. government bond yields, as investors went bargain hunting. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq both closed up 0.43 percent.

Investors are also keeping an eye on the Jackson Hole meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as the upcoming policy meeting of the Bank of Korea this week.

Market top-caps were trading mixed.

Samsung Electronics shed 5.33 percent, while its industry rival SK hynix added 2.02 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor inched up 0.24 percent and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace advanced 1.84 percent, while KB Financial shed 2.43 percent.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,383.8 won against the U.S. dollar, up 2.2 won from the close of the previous stock trading session.

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