South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Thursday, cheered by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments in support of its easy-money policy, analysts said.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) jumped 24.62 points, or 1.35 percent, to 1,848.78 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Large-cap exporters pushed up the index, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics soaring 2.5 percent and steelmaker POSCO shooting up nearly 3 percent.
Bernanke assuaged prevailing market jitters on Wednesday about a possible cut of the Fed's US$85 billion-a-month bond purchase, saying the world's No. 1 economy needs to stick to the stimulus.
The local currency was trading at 1,126.45 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 9.35 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap News)
