Seoul shares open higher on U.S. gains

South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday following an overnight Wall Street rally fueled by the Fed's reassurance of credit easing, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) increased 10.84 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1,970.25 in the first

15 minutes of trading.

Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 0.68 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor advancing 1.15 percent. Top steelmaker POSCO added 0.15 percent.

U.S. stocks ended higher Wednesday on the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain stimulus measures, with the Dow Jones industrial average rising 0.39 percent and the NASDAQ composite index adding 0.78 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,114.85 won to the U.S.

dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 1.25 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap News)