Stocks open higher on tech rally following Nvidia earnings

Stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking Wall Street tech gains and U.S. chipmaker Nvidia's second-quarter earnings surprise. The benchmark Kospi rose 27.09 points, or 1.08 percent, to 2,532.59 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

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

Stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking Wall Street tech gains and U.S. chipmaker Nvidia's second-quarter earnings surprise.

The benchmark Kospi rose 27.09 points, or 1.08 percent, to 2,532.59 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Wall Street finished higher Wednesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallying 1.59 percent before the release of Nvidia's earnings results. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.54 percent, and the S&P 500 advanced 1.1 percent.

Nvidia's second-quarter earnings results, reported after the bell, topped estimates, with quarterly revenue jumping 171 percent on year driven by the artificial intelligence craze.

The Bank of Korea kept its key interest rate unchanged for a fifth straight time at 3.5 percent amid an economic slowdown and cooling inflation.

In Seoul, most large-cap stocks opened higher.

Samsung Electronics rose 2.24 percent, and SK hynix surged 6.21 percent.

LG Energy Solution went up 0.57 percent, and Hyundai Motor added 0.27 percent.

Posco Holdings added 0.91 percent, and LG Chem advanced 1.07 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,328.5 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 11.2 won from the previous session's close.

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