Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight Wall Street gains on eased inflation concerns.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 18.58 points, or 0.77 percent, to 2,423.85 as of 9:15 a.m.
Overnight, US stocks finished higher, as investors bet that the US Fed may not take aggressive monetary tightening down the road, with inflation data showing signs of peaking, while shrugging off China's recent upticks in COVID-19 cases and possibility of tightening virus restrictions that could send shock waves across the global economy.
The S&P 500 rose 1.36 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 1.18 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.36 percent.
In Seoul, most large cap shares got off to a good start.
Market bellwether Samsung Electronics inched up 0.66 percent, and SK hynix also rose 1.64 percent. Portal operator Naver added 2.49 percent, and messenger app operator Kakao surged 5.34 percent. Major chemical firm LG Chem advanced 2.33 percent.
Among losers, battery maker LG Energy Solution shed 0.18 percent, and Samsung Biologics, the biotech arm of South Korea's Samsung Group, lost 0.79 percent.
The local currency was trading hands at 1,347.60 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 9 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
