Seoul: South Korean shares traded higher late Monday morning, heading toward a new all-time high, led by gains in tech and defense shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) surged 84.42 points, or 2.06 percent, to 4,157.85 as of 11:20 a.m.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the KOSPI rallied last week, with the index breaching the 4,100 mark for the first time Friday. The KOSPI's rise is in line with major U.S. indexes, which closed higher Friday on 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 upbeat earnings forecast, and those in Tesla jumped 3.74 percent on news its self-driving robotaxi will debut in China. In Seoul, major tech, defense, and shipbuilding firms pushed up the KOSPI.

Samsung Electronics rose 2.05 percent, while chipmaking rival SK hynix shot up 7.07 percent, continuing their rally due to optimism for the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Internet portal operator Naver climbed 4.67 percent due to the AI rally.

Defense and shipbuilding shares were bullish, with earnings releases of major firms planned for later Monday. Defense industry leader Hanwha Aerospace jumped 5.31 percent after the company said its third-quarter net income more than doubled from a year ago on growth in domestic and overseas sales.

Major shipbuilder HD Hyundai Heavy advanced 4.33 percent, while its rivals -- Hanwha Ocean and HD Korea Shipbuilding -- expanded 2.69 percent and 3.59 percent, respectively. Energy solutions provider HD Hyundai Electric soared 9.77 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,430.3 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., down 5.9 won from the previous session.