Seoul shares opened higher Thursday after a mixed close on Wall Street, with investors eyeing Friday's US jobs report.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 3.13 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,524.18 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Foreigners and individuals bought a combined 186 billion won ($127 million) worth of stocks, offsetting institutions' stock selling valued at 183.98 billion won.
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25 percent to 42,635.20, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 0.06 percent to 19,478.88.
In Seoul, auto and tech stocks were lead gainers.
Top carmaker Hyundai Motor rose 1.87 percent, its affiliate Kia Corp. climbed 3 percent to 104,100 won, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix jumped 3.2 percent to 201,000 won, and leading home appliance maker LG Electronics climbed 0.12 percent.
Among decliners, national flag carrier Korean Air fell 0.22 percent, leading budget carrier Jeju Air shed 0.9 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution was down 1.2 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,459.60 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., down 4.6 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)
