Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday after a sharp Tuesday decline in chipmaking stocks.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 134.24 points, or 2.23 percent, to 6,157.90 as of 9:15 a.m. On Tuesday the index plunged 10.84 percent to close at 6,023.66 amid concerns over future artificial intelligence infrastructure spending and rising competition from China.
Samsung Electronics jumped 5.23 percent and SK hynix climbed 3.55 percent. SK hynix posted record net profit of 93.92 trillion won for the April-June period, up sharply from 6.99 trillion won a year earlier.
Wall Street ended mixed overnight. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.03 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.22 percent. The Korean won traded at 1,457.10 won against the U.S. dollar, down 3 won from the previous close.