Seoul stocks open higher on U.S. advances

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

Seoul stocks opened slightly higher Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Kospi rose 0.75 points, or 0.03 percent, to 2,469.4 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The local stock market followed overnight advances on Wall Street, where stocks rose to the highest level in nearly eight weeks, as investors bet the U.S. economy is performing better than expected.

The S&P 500 added 1.1 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.61 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 1.76 percent.

In Seoul, market top-caps traded mixed.

Samsung Electronics was up 0.94 percent, while SK hynix fell 0.98 percent.

Panel maker LG Display fell 1.18 percent.

Automaker Hyundai Motor added 0.69 percent, bio firm Samsung Biologics retreated 0.5 percent, and portal operator Naver was up 0.74 percent.

The local currency had been changing hands at 1,228.2 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.5 won from Thursday's close.

Yonhap