SEOUL: Seoul shares gave up ground after wavering between small gains and losses on Wednesday, weighed by selling from computer-driven programme transactions.
At 0138 GMT, The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 0.2 percent at 1,732.18, after climbing as high as 1,762.67.
"Profit-taking moves appeared to kick in but sentiment over Europe has improved," said Kwak Jung-bo, a market analyst at Samsung Securities.
A net 140.5 billion won ($119.8 million) worth of stocks on the main index were sold from programme accounts, according to Korea Exchange data, with arbitrage trades offloading a net 114.4 billion won.
KOSPI 200 Sept futures lost 1.41 percent or 3 points to 225.30 points.
Institutional investors offloaded a net 46.8 billion won worth of shares. But foreign investors were buyers of a net 74.5 billion won worth of stocks, poised to mark their second straight session of buying.
The country's top carmaker Hyundai Motor turned lower, losing 0.24 percent, and its affiliate Kia Motors was flat.
Samsung Electronics , the world's No.1 memory chip maker and the largest stock on the KOSPI, advanced 1.7 percent with some analysts citing growing optimism about its third-quarter earnings performance.
OCI Co Ltd plunged 12.2 percent as expectations of product price cuts clouded its profitability outlook.
The producer of polysilicon, a key material to make solar panels, told analysts on Tuesday that it would slash its produce prices to cope with discount pressure and protect its client base, Shinhan Investment Corp analyst Lee Eung-ju said.
"The company said it would become more aggressive in competing against Chinese players on price," Lee said.
The junior KOSDAQ market gained 0.92 percent.
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