Seoul shares open higher on eased banking woes

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

Stocks opened higher Friday, tracking Wall Street gains overnight, as concerns about turmoil in the global banking sector have eased.

The Kospi added 7.12 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,460.28 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, U.S. shares rose as investors await the U.S. inflation data to be released later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite grew 0.73 percent.

In Seoul, top-cap shares traded mixed.

Samsung Electronics jumped 0.95 percent, while SK hynix decreased 0.23 percent.

Battery maker LG Energy Solution sank 0.85 percent, and Samsung SDI inched down 0.14 percent.

LG Chem added 0.14 percent.

Hyundai Motor climbing 1.32 percent and Kia advanced 1.13 percent.

Naver shed 0.7 percent, but Kakao edged up 0.17 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,297.1 won against the dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.9 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap