Seoul stocks open slightly higher despite Wall Street falls

Seoul stocks opened a tad higher Friday despite overnight falls on Wall Street and fresh U.S. job data.

The benchmark Kospi traded up 0.72 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,265.37 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Major indices on Wall Street fell over 1 percent overnight amid concerns that the country's strong labor market data released Thursday could push the Federal Reserve to continue to raise interest rates.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.16 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.02 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.47 percent.

In Seoul, most large-cap shares were trading mixed.

Samsung Electronics advanced 0.52 percent, despite its fourth-quarter earning guidance falling short of market expectations.

Early in the day, Samsung Electronics announced its fourth quarter operating profit guidance of 4.3 trillion won ($3.38 billion), down 69 percent on-year, marking the lowest figure since 2014.

SK hynix advanced 1.6 percent, while LG Energy Solution dipped 1.27 percent and Hyundai Motor fell 0.31 percent.

The local currency was trading hands at 1,271.7 won against the greenback, up 2.3 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap