Seoul shares open up on eased global banking woes

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

Seoul shares opened slightly higher Wednesday as investors' anxiety about the global banking system has eased.

The benchmark Kospi moved up 5.61 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,440.55 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, U.S. stocks closed lower as traders shifted their attention back to the concerns of future rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 lost 0.16 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.12 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.45 percent.

In Seoul, most large caps traded mixed.

Samsung Electronics shed 0.64 percent, and SK hynix declined 0.79 percent.

Portal operator Naver slipped 0.05 percent.

Hyundai Motor gained 0.28 percent, and Kia went up 1.3 percent.

Bio firm Samsung Biologics increased 0.25 percent.

The local currency was trading hands at 1,296.3 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 2.5 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap