Seoul shares open higher on US gains
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
South Korean stocks kicked off slightly higher Monday tracking tech gains on Wall Street, while investors were paying close attention to the US presidential election and the Federal Reserve's rate decision to take place later this week.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 8.6 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,550.96 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
On Friday, Wall Street finished higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.69 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite up 0.8 percent and the S&P 500 up 0.41 percent, as blue chip tech shares, including Amazon, Intel and Nvidia, gained ground.
Investors' eyes are on the US presidential election slated for Tuesday and the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting through Thursday.
In Seoul, tech behemoth Samsung Electronics gained 1.2 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix added 1.65 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.41 percent, with its sister Kia up 2.12 percent.
Internet portal operator Naver also jumped 2.42 percent.
But battery and financial shares were weak.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution lost 0.24 percent, and its smaller rival Samsung SDI decreased 0.15 percent.
KB Financial and Meritz Financial slid 1.74 percent and 2.14 percent, respectively.
The local currency was trading at 1,375.30 won against the US dollar, up 4.1 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
