Kospi edges up after Wall Street gains

Stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday as investors picked up tech and auto shares following overnight gains on Wall Street.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the stock market prices as it opens on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday as investors picked up tech and auto shares following overnight gains on Wall Street.

The Kospi edged up 4.4 points, or 0.17 percent, to 2,633.84 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.9 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.7 percent, as investors looked forward to positive first quarter corporate earnings reports this week.

Tech and auto shares gained ground, with Samsung Electronics adding 0.13 percent and Hyundai Motor rising 1.84 percent.

Financial stocks continued to add momentum from the previous session, with Kookmin Financial jumping 2.3 percent.

In contrast, steel and battery shares traded lower, with Posco Holdings down 0.25 percent and LG Energy Solution sliding 1.19 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,378.95 won against the greenback, down 0.25 won from the previous session's close.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]