Seoul stocks open higher on Wall Street rally

SEOUL, April 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, despite falling oil prices.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 12.45 points, or 0.65 percent, to 1,935.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Monday (local time), U.S. stocks ended higher as investor sentiment was boosted by efforts to normalize economic activities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.51 percent, the S&P 500 added 1.47 percent, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 1.11 percent.

Most large-cap shares on the Seoul bourse traded mixed.

Top cap Samsung Electronics lost 0.1 percent, and No. 1 portal operator Naver was down 0.51 percent.

In contrast, major chipmaker SK hynix added 0.73 percent, major pharmaceutical firm Samsung BioLogics gained 1.19 percent, and No. 1 chem firm LG Chem was up 3.25 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,223.1 won against the U.S. dollar, up 3.1 won from the previous session's close.

khj@yna.co.kr
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