Seoul shares open higher led by battery stocks

Stocks opened higher Wednesday led by the sound battery sector tracking Wall Street gains overnight. The benchmark Kospi rose 0.46 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,608.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Screens in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul show stock and foreign exchange markets close on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

Stocks opened higher Wednesday led by the sound battery sector tracking Wall Street gains overnight.

The benchmark Kospi rose 0.46 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,608.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1 percent to 34,951.93 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8 percent to 14,353.64.

Investors are keeping an eye on the U.S. central bank, which is widely expected to raise rates further this year to achieve its inflation target of 2 percent.

In Seoul, large-cap shares opened mixed.

Samsung Electronics rose 0.3 percent, while SK hynix fell 0.08 percent.

Hyundai Motor shed 0.5 percent, and Kia was down 0.9 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,265.30 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 4.9 won from the previous session's close.

BY SOHN DONG-JOO, YONHAP [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]