An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks started the year on a higher note Friday as tech shares gathered ground on retail buying.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 24.66 points, or 0.59 percent, to 4,238.83 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The market opened an hour later than usual, at 10 a.m.

Individual investors were net buyers, offsetting selling by foreign and institutional investors.

Top-cap shares opened mixed.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics soared 2.59 percent, while chip giant SK hynix increased 0.92 percent.

Leading shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy increased 0.59 percent, and its rival Hanwha Ocean added 0.53 percent.

Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace soared 2.44 percent, and nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility gained 0.66 percent.

But leading battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 2.17 percent, and major chemical firm LG Chem sank 3.6 percent.

Carmakers traded mixed. Top automaker Hyundai Motor went up 1.01 percent, while its sister affiliate Kia edged down 0.16 percent.

Bio giant Samsung Biologics inched down 0.06 percent, while Celltrion spiked 8.23 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,441.2 won against the greenback at 10:15 a.m., down 2.2 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)