April 20, 2024
Market Now
Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street gains
[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks opened higher on Jan. 9 as a continued rally in Wall Street bolstered optimism for riskier assets in the local market.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 3.17 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,516.45 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
US stocks rose for a fifth straight day on Monday as investors bet hope on the impact of the tax cuts.
Tech shares were mixed ahead of the corporate earnings season.
Top market cap Samsung Electronics retreated 0.85 percent although the tech titan expected its fourth-quarter operating profit to jump 63.8 percent on the back of global memory chip boom.
SK hynix, a major chipmaker, inched up 0.64 percent, and No. 2 tech firm LG Electronics advanced 2.38 percent.
Leading automaker Hyundai Motor remained unchanged, and top chemical firm LG Chem gained 1.65 percent.
The local currency was trading at 1,068.8 won against the US dollar, down 2.8 won from the previous session‘s close.
By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)
