South Korean shares closed slightly lower Monday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of key U.S. inflation data and a deadline for potential higher U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports. 

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) fell three-point-24 points, or zero-point-10 percent, Monday to close at three-thousand-206-point-77. 

The KOSPI moved in the opposite direction of Wall Street’s Friday gains, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose zero-point-47 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed zero-point-98 percent.

Among large-cap stocks, performances were mixed. Samsung Electronics shed one-point-11 percent to 71-thousand won, while chip rival SK hynix surged four-point-09 percent to 267-thousand won. 

Shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries slipped zero-point-54 percent to 464-thousand won, and Hanwha Ocean tumbled nine-point-09 percent to 107-thousand won. 

Korea Electric Power Corp. fell one-point-89 percent to 39-thousand won, whereas POSCO Holdings advanced three-point-72 percent to 306-thousand-500 won.

The tech-heavy KOSDAQ gained two-point-58 points, or zero-point-32 percent, to close at 811-point-85.