South Korean shares started mildly lower Friday, tracking overnight losses on Wall Street, amid a renewed uncertainty over the European Central Bank's monetary policy.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index dropped 8.15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,032.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed at 18,162.35, down 40.27 points, or 0.2 percent, from a day earlier, after the ECB kept its policy rate unchanged and some major US firms issued disappointing earnings reports.

On the Seoul bourse, top cap Samsung Electronics was off 1.23 percent, while the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. climbed 1.54 percent. Leading automaker Hyundai Motor advanced 0.38 percent and steelmaking giant POSCO gained 0.21 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,133.45 won against the US dollar, down 5.95 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)