Korean shares up in late morning trading

South Korea's bourse traded higher late Wednesday morning, buoyed by Samsung Electronics and foreign investors remaining net buyers of local stocks.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 14.61 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,448.42 as of 11:20 a.m.

Large caps had a mixed morning of trading, with market kingpin Samsung Electronics adding 2.46 percent and global chipmaker SK hynix up 0.11 percent.

Hyundai Motor rose 1.99 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors traded 2.19 percent higher.

POSCO, the No.1 steelmaker, declined 1.55 percent, while Naver, the operator of the country's top Internet portal, fell 0.93 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,136.15 won against the US dollar, down 1.05 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)