Seoul shares open higher on Samsung gains

[THE INVESTOR]  South Korean shares opened higher on Oct. 6 on gains in Samsung Group affiliates following US hedge fund Elliott Management’s involvement in its business structure.

The benchmark KOSPI advanced 12.4 points, or 0.6 percent, to 2,065.4 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Samsung Electronics jumped 4.2 percent after Elliott on Oct. 6 urged the tech giant to split itself into a holding firm and called for a special dividend. 

Samsung C&T, a construction arm that serves as the group’s de-facto holding firm, increased 4.6 percent on hopes that the US activist fund’s demand could raise shareholder value of South Korea’s largest conglomerate. Samsung Life Insurance, its financial unit, rose 2.39 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,112.40 won against the US dollar, up 1.30 won from the previous session.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)