Seoul shares open up boosted by battery gains

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday with battery stocks leading the gains.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index gained 3.36 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,574.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Battery stocks, including those affiliated with steel giant Posco Holdings in particular, led the market gains on the rosy growth prospects of their battery materials business.

Posco Holdings rose 1.69 percent, and Posco Future M, the steelmaker's chemical components-making unit, spiked 3.14 percent.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics shed 0.46 percent, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix rose 0.46 percent. LG Chem lost 1.21 percent, and leading car maker Hyundai Motor inched down 0.31 percent.

Overnight, Wall Street closed near the flatline as investors digested earnings reports from some large US banks and hawkish comments by Fed officials who favor continued rate hikes to tame inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.03 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also went down 0.03 percent, while the S&P 500 rose 0.08 percent.

Investors are awaiting the release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book on Wednesday and more comments from Fed officials for insight on the US central bank's monetary tightening.

The local currency was trading at 1,318.4 won against the US dollar, up 0.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)