An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (Kospi) at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
Seoul shares opened higher Monday tracking strong gains on Wall Street last week.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 20.48 points, or 0.88 percent, to trade at 2,315.46 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
On Friday, US shares closed sharply higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 2.15 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1.79 percent.
In Seoul, most big-cap shares gathered ground, with carmakers and tech firms leading the upturn.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.17 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. surged 2.33 percent.
Leading carmaker Hyundai Motor increased 0.82 percent, and its affiliated Kia added 0.38 percent.
Internet portal operator Naver spiked 4.55 percent, and platform giant Kakao climbed 2.28 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,319.55 won against the US dollar, up 6.55 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
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