South Korean stocks opened higher Monday ahead of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting meeting slated for this week.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 8.58 points, or 0.34 percent, to 2,526.43 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Investors are awaiting this week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting, with its key rate anticipated to remain steady between 5.25 and 5.50 percent.
In Seoul, tech shares traded higher, with LG Energy Solution adding 0.23 percent and SK hynix rising 0.94 percent. Samsung Electronics remained unchanged from the previous session.
Leading online portal operator Naver gained 0.46 percent, and its smaller rival Kakao moved up 2.51 percent.
Pharmaceutical firms were also among the gainers, with Celltrion adding 4.35 percent and SK Bioscience increasing 1.29 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,314.60 won against the US dollar, down 7.8 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)
