South Korean stocks opened higher Friday as the overnight European Central Bank meeting implied that the eurozone plans to maintain its economic stimulus moves down the road, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 9.08 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,848.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Shares gathered ground across the board, with top chipmaker SK hynix adding 0.52 percent and No. 1 carmaker Hyundai Motor rising 1.87 percent. Leading steelmaker POSCO gained 1.37 percent.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics shed 1.44 percent after the firm said it had posted a record quarterly operating profit of 9.5 trillion won ($8.36 billion) in the second quarter of this year.

The local currency was trading at 1,140.45 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.05 won from Thursday's close. (Yonhap News)