South Korean stocks opened higher on Thursday as investors attempted to buy oversold shares.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 6.93 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,020.82 in the first 15 minutes of trading. 

Most large caps traded mixed with market kingpin Samsung Electronics rising 0.38 percent. Samsung C&T, Samsung's de facto holding firm, lost 0.9 percent.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor rose 0.36 percent, and SK hynix was up 0.58 percent on its better-than-expected third-quarter earnings.

Naver, the operator of the country's top Internet portal, advanced 3.33 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,138.35 won against the US dollar, down 4.35 won from the previous session's close.

US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday with the Dow Jones industrial average inching up. The tech-laden Nasdaq closed lower. (Yonhap)