South Korean stocks started higher Tuesday as investors scooped up undervalued shares on overnight gains on Wall Street, shrugging off potential fallout from the Paris terrorist attacks, analysts said

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 21.06 points, or 1.08 percent, to 1,964.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Top steelmaker POSCO advanced 1.81 percent, and Korea Zinc added 0.11 percent. No. 2 steelmaker Hyundai Steel climbed 1.41 percent.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics increased 1.9 percent, and global chipmaker SK hynix moved up 1.15 percent. LG Electronics jumped 1.67 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,168.60 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 5.5 won from Monday's close. (Yonhap)