
Seoul shares opened higher Tuesday after a mixed close on Wall Street, helped by gains in techs and shipbuilders.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 7.98 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,497.54 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.86 percent to 42,297.12 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.38 percent to 19,088.10 points.
In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.18 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.2 percent, and top carmaker Hyundai Motor gained 0.45 percent.
Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy Industries jumped 2.42 percent, and Hanwha Ocean, formerly Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, jumped 4.65 percent.
Among decliners, leading shipping firm HMM fell 0.16 percent, No. 1 cosmetics firm AmorePacific declined 1.62 percent, and state-run Korea Gas Corp. shed 0.42 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,463.75 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., up 7.05 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)