South Korea: Stocks, won end lower ahead of US events; Samsung Elec falls

[SEOUL] South Korean shares and the won slumped on Monday as market sentiment cooled ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Donald Trump's inauguration as President later this week.

Shares in tech giant Samsung Electronics fell as much as 3 per cent just after prosecutors said they had sought an arrest warrant for Jay Lee, the company's chairman, but had limited impact on the overall market.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 0.6 per cent at 2,064.17 points.

The won was quoted at 1,182.1 to the dollar at the conclusion of onshore trade, down 0.6 per cent compared to the previous close of 1,174.7.

REUTERS