Seoul stocks open sharply higher on tech gains
![A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Wednesday. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2023/01/25/b8cb6a54-13f8-427b-a444-ada92b9a5e81.jpg)
A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Wednesday. [YONHAP]
Seoul stocks got off to a strong start Wednesday as investors bet the U.S. Federal Reserve will go easy on its aggressive monetary tightening.
The benchmark Kospi added 28.09 points, or 1.17 percent, to 2,423.35 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Major indexes on Wall Street closed mixed overnight, while chipmakers, such as AMD and Qualcomm, rose on hope for better business performance down the road.
Investors are also keeping a close watch on the Fed's next rate policy move.
In Seoul, IT shares gathered ground, while financial stocks fell.
Samsung Electronics advanced 0.21 percent, while SK hynix added 3.65 percent.
Internet portal operator Naver was up 2.3 percent.
The local currency had been trading at 1,234.7 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.8 won from the previous session's close.
Korea's stock market was closed on Monday and Tuesday due to the Lunar New Year holiday.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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