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

South Korean stocks got off to a bullish start Wednesday in line with overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index climbed 18.84 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,587.39 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

US stock indexes gained ground overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.68 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edging up 0.66 percent, as last week's dovish policy pivot by the Federal Reserve continued to stoke upward market momentum.

In Seoul, blue chips traded higher across the board.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 0.68 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix jumped 1.09 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.59 percent, and its smaller rival Samsung SDI added 0.89 percent.

Steel giant Posco Holdings edged up 0.10 percent, and leading chemical producer LG Chem gained 0.60 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor also rose 0.62 percent, and its smaller affiliate Kia added 0.78 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,302.55 won against the US dollar, up 5.25 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)