Seoul shares open higher on US tech gains
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)
Seoul shares opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains of US blue chip tech shares backed by US Consumer Price Index data, which cemented bets for another rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 20.41 points, or 0.84 percent, to 2,462.92 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 gained ground as investors digested the new US CPI, which was in line with expectations and backed forecasts for another Fed rate cut this month, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost ground on losses of health care shares.
Tech shares rose big in particular, with Alphabet, the parent company of Google, up 5.46 percent, Tesla up 5.93 percent and artificial intelligence chip giant Nvidia gaining 3.14 percent.
In Seoul, tech and financial shares were pushing the KOSPI up.
Tech behemoth Samsung Electronics gained 0.74 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix jumped 1.86 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 1.91 percent, while its sister Kia advanced 1.87 percent.
Financial shares were also strong.
KB Financial soared 2.58 percent, and Samsung Life Insurance surged 3.15 percent.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution and major chemical producer LG Chem also advanced, rising 0.4 percent and 1.52 percent, respectively.
But internet portal operator Naver was down 1.15 percent following days of gains, and Korea Zinc, the world's largest zinc smelter in the middle of a management control battle, slid 6.21 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,429.60 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 2.6 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
