An electronic board showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index at a dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)

Seoul stocks opened higher Monday during the first session of 2023 on retail and institutional buying.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 15.87 points, or 0.71 percent, to 2,252.27 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Major stock indices closed lower on Wall Street on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.22 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.35 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 0.11 percent.

Analysts expect the local stock market to trend lower this month amid the country's weakening economic fundamentals and prospects over higher interest rates.

On Sunday, South Korea reported a trade deficit of $47.2 billion, marking the first ever deficit since 2008.

In Seoul, most large-caps were trading higher.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.72 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix advanced 0.67 percent.

Leading chemical firm LG Chem was up 0.83 percent, top auto maker Hyundai Motor jumped 4.64 percent, and battery maker Samsung SDI rose 2.2 percent.

Cosmetic companies were in negative territory on stricter antivirus measures against arrivals from China. Beauty giant Amorepacific fell 4.73 percent, and LG Household & Health Care dipped 2.77 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,252.8 won against the US dollar, up 1.7 won from the previous session's close, as of 10:15 a.m.

The session's opening hour was pushed back by one hour to 10 a.m. for the bourse operator's new year's ceremony but will close at the usual time at 3:30 p.m. (Yonhap)