An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
Seoul shares opened higher Monday amid decreased volatility on Wall Street.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 4.77 points, or 0.19 percent, to 2,501.40 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
On Friday, US stocks closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ down 0.11 percent.
The volatility index, Wall Street's fear gauge, hit the lowest since January 2020 at 12.46 as market participants expected the Federal Reserve is near the end of its hiking cycle on cooling inflation signals.
In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.14 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.86 percent.
Leading chemical producer LG Chem added 0.39 percent, and internet portal operator Naver jumped 0.97 percent.
Top automaker Hyundai Motor was up 0.54 percent, but its smaller affiliate Kia lost 0.12 percent.
Battery shares started in negative terrain.
Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution dropped 0.45 percent, and Posco Future M retreated 0.33 percent.
Steel giant Posco Holdings also lost 0.63 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,303.10 won against the US dollar, up 3.30 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
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