Seoul shares open tad higher on Wall Street gains

Seoul shares opened slightly higher Friday, as chip shares gained traction bolstered by overnight gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0.04 percent, or 1.03 points, to 2,672.6 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, major U.S. indexes gained ground thanks to the surprise earnings result of Micron Technology lifting artificial intelligence-related shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.62 percent, the S and P 500 increased 0.4 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite soared 0.6 percent. In Seoul, semiconductor shares led the overall gains, with market behemoth Samsung Electronics and industry rival SK hynix adding 0.93 percent and 3.92 percent, respectively. Financial shares also added momentum. Kookmin Financial and Shinhan Financial rose 3.94 percent and 0.35 percent, respectively. In contrast, battery and automotive shares lost ground. LG Energy Solution and Hyundai Motor shed 0.85 percent and 1.35 percent, respectively. The local currency was trading at 1,318 won against the U.S. dollar, up 9.2 won from the previous session. Source: Yonhap News Agency