Seoul stocks end tad lower amid mixed signals on Iran war

Korean stocks closed a tad lower Friday after paring most of their earlier losses amid the United States' mixed signals on its war against Iran and eased concerns over the chipmaking industry. The local currency lost ground against the greenback. After opening 2.93 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 21.59 points, or 0.4 percent, to end at 5,438.87, after dipping to as low as 5,220.10. Trade volume was moderate at 889.8 million shares worth 23 trillion won ($15.3 billion), with losers and winners almost even at 441 to 436. Foreigners unloaded a net 3.88 trillion won, extending their selling binge, but retail investors and institutions purchased local shares worth 2.7 trillion won and 778.7 billion won, respectively. The KOSPI opened markedly lower tracking an overnight slump on Wall Street, sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's mixed signals about where Washington stands in its negotiations with Iran and lingering concerns over the impact of Google's new artificial intelligence (AI) compression algorithm, TurboQuant, which is expected to cut the

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