Seoul shares start sharply lower on tech losses amid Hormuz hopes

South Korean stocks opened sharply lower Thursday, driven by losses in some big technology companies on Wall Street amid signs of progress on the Strait of Hormuz. After opening 1.81 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index shed 105.95 points, or 1.61 percent, to 6,492.31 as of 9:15 a.m. Overnight, US stocks finished mixed. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 0.83 percent, weighed down by big technology companies lo