Kospi edges up but investors stay watchful on Fed's movements

A screen in Hana Bank's trading room in central Seoul shows the Kospi closing at 2,734.36 points on Tuesday, up 2.16 percent, or 57.73 points, from the previous trading session. [NEWS1]

Shares opened higher Wednesday on institutional buying, with investors staying watchful on whether the U.S. Federal Reserve will slash key rates this year.

The Kospi rose 3.65 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,738.01 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended nearly flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.08 percent at 38,884.26, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 0.1 percent to 16,332.56.

Institutions and individuals bought a combined 43.46 billion won ($32 million) worth of stocks, offsetting foreigners' stock selling valued at 36.53 billion won.

In Seoul, large-cap stocks were mixed.

Kia rose 0.4 percent, Korean Air climbed 0.5 percent, LG Energy Solution gained 0.4 percent and HMM was up 3.2 percent.

Among decliners, Samsung Electronics fell 0.4 percent, SK hynix declined 0.7 percent, Posco Holdings shed 0.5 percent and SK Innovation was down 0.1 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,361.35 won against dollar, up 1.25 won from the previous session's close.

BY CHOI HAE-JIN, YONHAP [choi.haejin@joongang.co.kr]