Korean shares opened slightly higher Thursday on an apparent "earnings surprise" from Samsung Electronics while investors continued to bet the U.S. Fed will not hurry to raise its key rate.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 8.58 points, or 0.44 percent, to 1,971.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Market leader Samsung Electronics gained 0.54 percent after releasing its formal estimate of first-quarter operating profits.

Samsung announced that it racked up 6.6 trillion won ($5.6 billion) during the January-March period, up 10.37 percent from a year earlier, although the figure is provisional.

Hyundai Motor, Korea's top automaker, rose 0.55 percent, and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. gained 0.17 percent

U.S. stocks finished in positive terrain Wednesday, boosted by health care and energy firms.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 112.73 points, or 0.6 percent, to 17,716.05.

The local currency was trading at 1,153.65 against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 2.9 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)