South Korean stocks opened higher Monday as investor sentiment got a boost from rising hope that the U.S. may delay the tapering of its quantitative easing moves, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 7.64 points, or 0.37 percent, to 2,060.04 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Blue-chip shares led the market gain, with tech giant Samsung Electronics adding 1.02 percent and the country's No. 1 portal operator NAVER advancing 5.16 percent. Oil refiner SK Innovation gained 3.63 percent.

Brokerage houses also gathered ground, with Samsung Securities adding 0.84 percent and KDB Daewoo Securities climbing 0.5 percent.

Woori Investment & Securities rose 0.86 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,061.35 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.55 won from Friday's close. (Yonhap News)