Seoul: South Korean stocks pulled off a strong start Thursday as U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp.'s better-than-expected earnings report fueled a rally in semiconductor shares here. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 90.76 points, or 1.49 percent, to 6,174.62 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight, U.S. stocks finished higher as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.63 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 1.26 percent. Nvidia reported its fourth-quarter revenue of US$68.13 billion to beat analyst estimates, renewing optimism over the artificial intelligence (AI) technology's potential benefits.

In Seoul, semiconductor shares led the early gains. Samsung Electronics jumped 4.42 percent, and SK hynix increased 2.16 percent. Hanmi Semiconductor, a major chip equipment manufacturer, surged 11.19 percent. Internet giant Naver advanced 3.56 percent, and its rival Kakao soared 5.57 percent.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor added 0.17 percent, and leading battery maker LG Energy Solution rose 2.7 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,424.15 won against the greenback at 9:15 a.m., up 5.15 won from the previous session.