Seoul shares open higher on US rallies

South Korean stocks opened markedly higher Wednesday, tracking overnight rallies on Wall Street, on solid demand for tech bargains.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 22.39 points, or 1.01 percent, to 2,231.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.80 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 3.34 percent, as US Treasury yields fell and the latest US jobs report raised hope that the Federal Reserve would back off aggressive monetary tightening sooner than expected.

On Tuesday, the US Department of Labor said the number of job openings in August plunged by the most since April 2020.

In Seoul, tech shares led the overall market gains.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics advanced 2.54 percent, and chip giant SK hynix jumped 3.13 percent.

Battery maker LG Energy Solutions rose 0.9 percent, and Samsung SDI went up 1.08 percent.

But major carmakers traded mixed, with top automaker Hyundai Motor falling 0.28 percent, while its affiliate Kia inched up 0.14 percent.

Internet giant Naver tumbled 1.13 percent following a sharp fall in the previous session, while Kakao, the operator of the popular mobile messenger Kakao Talk, added 1.07 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,417.60 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 8.9 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)