Seoul shares slightly up in late-morning trade

South Koreans stocks traded slightly higher late Tuesday morning, buoyed by gains in blue-chip exporters, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 3.31 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,158.97 as of 11:20 a.m. 

Tech giant Samsung Electronics climbed 0.83 percent, with steelmaker POSCO advancing 1.3 percent. Top cosmetics maker AmorePacific also rose 1.4 percent.

But auto and IT shares moved in negative territory. Kia Motors, the smaller affiliate of Hyundai Motor, fell 0.4 percent and top Internet search engine operator Naver slid more than 3 percent.

The local currency was changing hands at 1,113.10 won against the greenback, down 0.3 won from Monday's close. (Yonhap)