South Korean stocks opened higher Wednesday despite massive sell-offs in US semiconductor shares.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index opened 1.86 percent higher at 8,356.79. By 9:15 a.m. it had added 267.56 points, or 3.26 percent, to reach 8,471.4.
Wall Street closed lower overnight after sharp declines in memory chip and semiconductor stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.09 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.44 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.21 percent.
In Seoul, SK hynix rose 4.23 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 7.26 percent and Samsung Electro-Mechanics added 3.37 percent. The Korean won traded at 1,534.8 won against the US dollar, up 4.3 won from the previous session.
