South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, despite overnight losses on Wall Street, on the back of gains in big-cap tech shares.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 9.38 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,484.03 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.63 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 1.12 percent as investors moved to take profits from last week's rally.

In Seoul, tech and bio shares led the overall market advance.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.48 percent, and chip giant SK hynix went up 0.33 percent. No. 1 chemical firm LG Chem also advanced 0.96 percent.

Samsung Biologics grew 0.33 percent, and Celltrion jumped 1.08 percent.

But battery maker LG Energy Solutions inched down 0.17 percent.

Carmakers also lost ground. Top automaker Hyundai Motor declined 0.28 percent, and its affiliate Kia fell 0.86 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,324.10 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 1.8 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)