South Korean stocks traded lower late Friday morning as foreign and institutional investors offloaded shares despite no surprise announcements from the Fed's latest policy meeting and positive economic data coming from the United States and China The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) that started trading on the plus side, lost momentum and stood at 1,958.23 as of 11:20 a.m., down 0.18 percent or 3.56 points from Wednesday's close. The country's stock market was closed on Thursday in observance of Labor Day.