An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)

South Korean stocks got off to a strong start Tuesday, driven by solid gains of big-cap tech shares.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 25.3 points, or 1.02 percent, to 2,513.94 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Foreign buying led market gains, which offset selling by institutions and retail investors.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched down 0.06 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 1.24 percent, led by a rally for chip shares.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.89 percent, while chip giant SK hynix shed 0.15 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution surged 2.35 percent, and major chemicals producer LG Chem advanced 1.95 percent.

Major bio shares opened higher. Samsung Biologics jumped 4.55 percent and Celltrion increased 1.31 percent to 183,700 won.

Top steelmaker Posco Holdings gained 1.34 percent, and internet platform giant Naver grew 0.72 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor climbed 0.71 percent, and its sister affiliate Kia opened unchanged.

The local currency was trading at 1,464.2 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., up 5.5 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)