Seoul shares open higher on tech gains

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Friday. [YONHAP]

Korean stocks opened marginally higher Friday as gains in tech companies offset concerns over a recession overshadowing the U.S. markets.

The benchmark Kospi rose 5.23 points, or 0.22 percent, to 2,385.57 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The local stock market opened higher, bucking a decline on Wall Street amid uncertainty over the direction of the Federal Reserve for interest rate hikes in the coming months.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics gained 0.8 percent, with chipmaker SK hynix rising 2 percent. Battery maker Samsung SDI was also up 0.5 percent.

Financial companies continued to trend upward. Shinhan Financial and Hana Financial both advanced about 0.8 percent.

Bio stocks fell. Samsung Biologics lost about 0.4 percent and Celltrion slid nearly 1 percent.

The local currency had been trading at 1,231.20 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.9 won from Thursday's close.

Yonhap