South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Friday tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 20.03 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,512.10 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, all three major US indexes gained ground, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite up 1.37 percent, as communication and IT shares rallied on favorable news in the artificial intelligence sector.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, jumped more than 5 percent on the launch of its latest AI model, Gemini, and Advanced Micro Devices shot up 9.9 percent after it estimated that the market for data center AI chips could reach $45 billion this year.

In Seoul, big-cap tech shares rallied.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.98 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix jumped 2.47 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 1.64 percent, and its smaller rival Samsung SDI added 1.24 percent.

Steel giant POSCO Holdings soared 2.35 percent, and leading chemical producer LG Chem gained 1.81 percent.

IT and auto stocks were also bullish.

Internet portal operator Naver shot up 2.35 percent, and Kakao, the operator of the country's top mobile messenger, advanced 1.39 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.82 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia added 1.18 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,311.30 won against the US dollar, up 14 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)