South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street on rising hopes for an economic recovery, analysts said.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) moved up 8.05 points, or 0.41 percent, to 1,964.50 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Shares gathered ground across the board, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics rising 0.81 percent and top steelmaker POSCO moving up 0.16 percent. Leading builder Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. advanced 0.67 percent.

U.S. stocks ended higher on Wednesday also on improved trade data from China, with the Dow Jones industrial average adding 0.32 percent to an all-time high and the NASDAQ composite index rising 0.49 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,084.95 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 1.55 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap News)