Kospi opens higher but fears over market turmoil persist

Shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, two days after their worst rout over fears of a U.S. recession.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul on Monday [YONHAP]

Shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, two days after their worst rout over fears of a U.S. recession. However, some analysts said worries about market turmoil linger.

The benchmark Kospi rose 12.17 points, or 0.48 percent, to 2,534.32 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The Kospi ended 3.3 percent higher Tuesday after plunging nearly 9 percent Monday due to massive selloffs amid concerns over a recession in the United States.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.76 percent to 38,997.66, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1.03 percent to 16,366.85.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed across the board.

Samsung Electronics rose 1.8 percent, Hyundai Motor climbed 1.5 percent, Korean Air gained 0.3 percent and SK Innovation was up 0.1 percent.

Among decliners, SK hynix fell 3 percent, Samsung SDI declined 0.6 percent, Posco shed 0.9 percent and LG Energy Solution was down 1.3 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,376.10 won against the dollar, up 0.5 won from the previous session's close.

BY CHO YONG-JUN, YONHAP [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]