Seoul stocks open higher ahead of Fed meeting

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows stock and foreign exchange markets open on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, with investors paying close attention to the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming rate decision.

The benchmark Kospi gained 12.43 points, or 0.51 percent, to 2,437.51 points as of 9:15 a.m.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the previous session up 1.09 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.67 percent.

The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by 0.25 percentage point to a new range of 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent on Wednesday.

Investors are hoping for signs of slower policy tightening by the Fed.

Chip companies led the overall market gains on hope for an upturn in demand.

In Seoul, Samsung Electronics rose 1.64 percent, chipmaker SK hynix grew 2.71 percent, and carmaker Hyundai Motor increased 1.5 percent.

Car battery maker LG Energy Solution added 0.19 percent, while chemical firm LG Chem shed 0.72 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,231.8 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.1 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap