Seoul shares open higher on tech, auto gains

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Seoul shares open higher on tech, auto gains

Published: 22 May. 2023, 09:38

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

Stocks opened higher Monday, led by big-cap tech and auto shares, as talks for the United States' debt ceiling deal were to resume soon.

The benchmark Kospi added 9.18 points, or 0.36 percent, to 2,546.97 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are scheduled to meet Monday to seek a breakthrough regarding their debt ceiling negotiations, according to foreign media reports.

On Friday, the negotiations fell through, raising doubt of a deal being reached soon and causing U.S. shares to lose ground.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.33 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.24 percent.

In Seoul, tech and auto shares started higher.

Samsung Electronics rose 0.29 percent, and chipmaker SK hynix advanced 0.72 percent.

Hyundai Motor climbed 0.73 percent, and Kia grew 0.23 percent.

Battery makers LG Energy Solution and Samsung SDI remained flat, while LG Chem shed 0.14 percent.

Naver shed 0.69 percent, and Kakao inched down 0.17 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,321.40 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 5.3 won from the previous session's close.

Yonhap