South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Friday, taking a cue from overnight Wall Street tech gains despite an increase in the new coronavirus cases.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 2.9 points, or 0.11 percent, to 2,550.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Stocks started off with a mild gain after the index hit a nearly three-year high the previous session.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite gained 0.87 percent, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average edging up 0.15 percent and the S&P 500 up 0.39 percent.

In Seoul, most large caps traded mixed.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics slipped 0.15 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.61 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor shed 0.83 percent, but leading chemical company LG Chem advanced 1.25 percent.

Pharmaceutical giant Samsung Biologics retreated 1.36 percent, but Celltrion added 0.51 percent.

Internet giant Naver inched up 0.18 percent, but its rival Kakao declined 0.27 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,114.7 won against the US dollar, up 0.9 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)