Seoul shares up in late morning trade

South Korean stocks traded higher late Friday morning on expectations that the European Central Bank's bond-purchasing program will boost liquidity in the local bourse, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.37 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,006.75 as of 11:20 a.m.

Tech, auto, and brokerage stocks gathered ground, while telecom and banking stocks suffered a decline.

Top market cap Samsung Electronics advanced 0.7 percent and chipmaker SK hynix went up 1.32 percent.

State-run utility giant Korea Electric Power Corp. gained 0.56 percent.

Samsung Securities, the No.1 brokerage by market value, rose 2.36 percent, and NH-Woori Investment & Securities rallied 4.24 percent.

Hyundai Motor, the country's top automaker, rose 2.39 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors was up 2.45 percent.

The ECB said Thursday it would start asset purchases amounting to 60 billion euros a month from Monday as the central bank seeks to chase off deflation. The ECB also raised its outlook for growth in 2016.

The South Korean currency was trading at 1,098.35 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 2.95 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap)