An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Seoul stocks opened a tad higher Tuesday despite the inflation concerns fueled by OPEC+'s surprise plan to cut oil output.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 13.03 points, or 0.53 percent, to 2,485.37 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Overnight, US shares closed mixed amid concerns of an energy price hike after OPEC+ announced a cut in oil production. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.98 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.27 percent.
South Korea's on-year growth in consumer prices fell to the lowest level in a year in March, data showed Tuesday, in the latest signal that inflation could slow throughout this year.
Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, rose 4.2 percent last month from a year earlier, slowing from the rise of 4.8 percent tallied in February, according to a report from Statistics Korea.
In Seoul, top-cap shares were trading mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics inched up 0.48 percent, while chip giant SK hynix retreated 2.64 percent.
Shares in the energy sector were trading higher, with refinery SK Innovation advancing 1.94 percent and chemical firm LG Chem jumping 5.34 percent.
Tech shares were mixed. Portal operator Naver climbed 0.66 percent, while messenger app operator Kakao inched down 0.17 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,308.2 won against the greenback, up 8.3 won from the previous session's close, as of 9:15 a.m. (Yonhap)
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