South Korean shares opened lower Friday, tracking overnight Wall Street losses amid concerns that the Fed may raise rates at a faster and stronger than expected pace.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) shed 25.4 points, or 0.93 percent, to 2,691.31 as of 9:15 a.m.

Overnight, the US stock markets ended down as investors faced renewed risks of the Fed's monetary tightening to curb the highest inflation in four decades.

The 10-year Treasury yields rose to 2.8 percent, the highest level since December 2018.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.3 percent, the S&P500 went down 1.2 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq also shed 2.2 percent.

On the Seoul bourse, shares traded mostly lower.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics declined 1.19 percent, and key battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 1.47 percent.

No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix shed 1.82 percent, and LG Chem retreated 1.17 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor decreased 0.56 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,230.10 won against the US dollar, down 5.4 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)