Seoul: South Korean stocks opened higher Tuesday as Samsung Electronics delivered a better-than-expected earnings guidance and U.S. President Donald Trump softened rhetoric around tensions with China. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) advanced 38.64 points, or 1.08 percent, to 3,623.19 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
According to Yonhap News Agency, overnight U.S. stocks rebounded after a sell-off on Friday as President Donald Trump played down concerns of escalating tensions with China saying, "It will all be fine." The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 1.29 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 2.21 percent. Tech stocks led the gains, with Broadcom soaring just shy of 10 percent after announcing its partnership with OpenAI.
In Seoul, most large cap shares traded higher. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics advanced 2.68 percent, and its rival SK hynix also rose 3.61 percent. Samsung estimated its third-quarter operating profit at the highest level in more than three years, at 12.1 trillion won (US$8.5 billion). Defense giant Hanwha Aerospace rose 0.4 percent, top carmaker Hyundai Motor inched up 0.23 percent, and major portal operator Naver slid 0.57 percent.
The local currency was quoted at 1,427.1 won against the greenback as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.3 won from the previous session's close.