SEOUL — The South Korean stock market opened lower on Friday, weighed down by strong cautious sentiment ahead of the crucial U.S. employment report and heavy net selling by foreign and institutional investors, despite a positive overnight lead from Wall Street.

According to the Korea Exchange (KRX), the benchmark Kospi fell 22.68 points, or 0.33 percent, to trade at 6,948.67 as of 9:08 a.m. 

Market participants noted that retail investors served as the sole cushion, net-buying 150.8 billion won worth of shares. In contrast, foreign investors and local institutions unloaded 142.2 billion won and 40.6 billion won, respectively, pulling the index downward. 

Among large-cap market heavyweights, the country’s leading semiconductor stocks showed a mixed performance. Samsung Electronics dipped 1.09 percent, while rival SK Hynix edged up 0.05 percent. Other major blue chips mostly trended weak, including SK Square (-0.56%), Samsung Life Insurance (-0.53%), Samsung Electro-Mechanics (-0.96%), Hyundai Motor (-1.00%), and Samsung C&T (-2.02%).

The local downturn came despite a mild recovery on Wall Street overnight, where major U.S. indices finished slightly higher as the alarming surge in U.S. Treasury yields eased somewhat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.04 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.19 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.04 percent.

However, lingering anxieties over high interest rates—with the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield spiking up to 5.342 percent during the session—along with a strong wait-and-see attitude ahead of the September U.S. employment data release later in the day, heavily restricted upside momentum for the South Korean bourse.

Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities, noted, "Upward momentum is likely to be capped today due to profit-taking triggered by the upcoming U.S. jobs report and cautious sentiment ahead of the domestic holiday break."

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Kosdaq index started the session 1.07 points (0.12%) lower at 893.22, but quickly rebounded right after the opening bell. Surging up to 902.61 during the session, the Kosdaq successfully broke past the psychological 900 threshold for the first time in about three months since July 2.