Seoul shares pare earlier gains late Fri. morning

SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean shares retreated from early gains late Friday morning as retail and institutional investors continued to sell technology stocks, despite overseas investors' bargain hunting. After opening 2.7 percent higher, the KOSPI index rose 1.29 percent to 6,901.29 by 11:20 a.m. The KOSPI had briefly touched 7,000 in early trading, jumping 2.9 percent.

Foreign investors alone purchased nearly 1.01 trillion won of shares, balancing a combined 978.9 billion won in net selling by retail and institutional investors. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks hit an all-time high due to falling oil prices, with the S&P 500 up 0.7 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1 percent, and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite up 0.8 percent.

Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK hynix rose 0.56 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. The Korean won appreciated to 1,414.1 per U.S. dollar, an increase of 4.5 won from the previous session.