Seoul shares open higher on eased uncertainty over Fed's rate hikes

SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate by a widely expected 0.75 percentage point.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 16.88 points, or 0.7 percent, to trade at 2,432.1 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Wrapping up a two-day meeting, the U.S. central bank on Wednesday (U.S. time) announced a three-quarters of a point rate increase to put its policy rate in a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent, the highest level since 2018, to curb inflation.

But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has hinted that it could slow the pace of the aggressive monetary tightening at some point.

The U.S. stock market hailed the latest developments. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.37 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite surged 4.06 percent.

In Seoul, most big-cap shares traded higher, with the tech sector leading the market advance.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics rose 0.65 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix added 0.5 percent.

Battery giant LG Energy Solution surged 1.14 percent, and Samsung SDI grew 0.36 percent.

Bio shares also gathered ground with Samsung Biologics advancing 2.02 percent and Celltrion increasing 0.53 percent.

But leading carmaker Hyundai Motor lost 1.02 percent, and LG Chem shed 0.88 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,308.75 won against the U.S. dollar, up 4.55 won from the previous session's close.

graceoh@yna.co.kr
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