Kospi jumps more than 1% after U.S. Fed rate cut

Shares opened higher Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street, after the U.S. Federal Reserve's first rate cut in more than four years lifted investor sentiment.

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi opening on Friday. [NEWS1]

Shares opened higher Friday, tracking gains on Wall Street, after the U.S. Federal Reserve's first rate cut in more than four years lifted investor sentiment.

The benchmark Kospi rose 1.09 percent, or 28.01 points, to 2,608.81 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.3 percent to 42,025.19 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 2.5 percent to 18,013.98.

On Wednesday (U.S. time), the Fed kicked off its monetary-easing cycle by cutting its overnight lending rate by half a percentage point to a range of 4.75 percent to 5 percent.

The U.S. central bank also pledged a further rate reduction that boosted investor sentiment.

In Seoul, tech stocks were lead gainers.

Samsung Electronics rose 1.1 percent, chipmaker SK hynix climbed 3.8 percent, carmaker Hyundai Motor advanced 1.4 percent and battery maker LG Energy Solution was up 2.4 percent.

Among decliners, Korean Air fell 0.2 percent, refiner SK Innovation declined 1 percent and wireless services provider SK Telecom shed 1.2 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,328.90 won against the dollar, down 0.10 won from the previous session.

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN, YONHAP [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]