Seoul: South Korean shares opened higher Monday as big-cap defense and shipbuilding shares kicked off strong ahead of their planned earnings release. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 50.35 points, or 1.23 percent, to 4,157.85 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

According to Yonhap News Agency, major U.S. indexes closed higher on Friday, driven by significant gains in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Tesla. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite increased 0.61 percent, and the S and P 500 added 0.26 percent. Shares in AWS surged 9.58 percent on an optimistic earnings forecast, while Tesla saw a 3.74 percent increase following news that its self-driving robotaxi will debut in China.

In Seoul, investors were focused on the earnings release of key defense and shipbuilding companies such as Hanwha Aerospace, Hyundai Rotem, HD Hyundai Heavy, and HD Korea Shipbuilding, which had recently pushed up the KOSPI. Defense industry leader Hanwha Aerospace started 2.76 percent higher, and its smaller rival Hyundai Rotem began more than 1 percent higher. Major shipbuilders also showed strong performance, with HD Hyundai Heavy soaring 4.5 percent, Hanwha Ocean advancing 3.27 percent, and HD Korea Shipbuilding jumping 3.06 percent.

Blue chip tech and auto shares continued their upward momentum. Samsung Electronics rose 0.19 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix surged 4.65 percent. Internet portal operator Naver climbed 3.93 percent, while Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor went up 0.52 percent. These companies recently announced partnerships with U.S. AI chip giant Nvidia, which plans to deploy up to 260,000 graphic processing units (GPUs) in South Korea to build large-scale AI factories.

Tech investing firm SK Square expanded 4.23 percent, and energy solutions provider HD Hyundai Electric shot up 7.24 percent. Meanwhile, the local currency was quoted at 1,429.2 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 4.8 won from the previous session.