Seoul: South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street led by tech shares following an announcement of a business partnership between Nvidia and OpenAI. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.38 percent, or 13.12 points, to 3,481.77 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

According to Yonhap News Agency, major U.S. indexes closed at record high levels, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite advancing 0.7 percent and the S and P 500 increasing 0.44 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.14 percent. The growth was mostly led by tech shares after Nvidia, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) chip producer, unveiled its plan to invest up to US$100 billion in OpenAI to build AI data centers.

In Seoul, most large-cap shares opened higher. Tech giant Samsung Electronics climbed 0.84 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix gained 1 percent. Financial firms were among winners, with Shinhan Financial adding 0.86 percent and Samsung Life Insurance increasing 1.09 percent. The local currency was quoted at 1,392.7 won against the greenback as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.1 won from the previous session.