Seoul stocks open higher after gains on Wall Street

Electronic display boards at Hana Bank in central Seoul show stock and foreign exchange markets on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

Seoul stocks opened higher Thursday following Wall Street advances, as investors were digesting the U.S. Federal Reserve's minutes released overnight.

The benchmark Kospi advanced 16.56 points, or 0.73 percent, to 2,272.54 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Major indexes on Wall Street closed slightly higher overnight, as investors remained watchful of the market amid the Fed's December minutes released Wednesday.

Policy makers of the U.S. central bank reaffirmed their "restrictive policy stance" of keeping the rates high to fight against inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.75 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.69 percent.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics gained 0.87 percent, and SK hynix rose 1.36 percent.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution added 0.34 percent, while portal operator Naver jumped 3.29 percent.

The local currency had been changing hands at 1,270.6 won against the greenback, down 1.1 won from the previous session's close, as of 9:15 a.m.

Yonhap