South Korean shares opened higher Thursday, led by pharmaceuticals.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 12.86 points, or 0.61 percent, to 2,119.56 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., the largest IPO offering of the year so far, spiked 29.59 percent on the day of its debut.

Top pharmaceutical firm Samsung BioLogics surged 4.26 percent, with Celltrion spiking 3.87 percent.

Most large caps were in positive terrain.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics stayed flat, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.82 percent.

Internet giant Naver and its rival Kakao both added 1.86 percent, and leading chemical maker LG Chem climbed 0.10 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,201.80 won against the US dollar, up 1.60 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)