Seoul shares open higher tracking Wall Street

Seoul shares opened higher Tuesday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street buoyed by technology shares. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 10 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,867.76 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite and the S and P 500 rose to hit record highs as investors scooped up technology shares, including Apple and Nvidia. Investors have been waiting for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's congressional testimony and the release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index for June due this week. In Seoul, top tech giant Samsung Electronics added 0.46 percent, and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix gained 0.43 percent. Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution climbed 0.7 percent, and Samsung SDI rose 0.66 percent as well. Chemical firms opened higher as well, with LG Chem increasing 0.14 percent and SK Innovation moving up 0.81 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,382.4 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 0.9 won from the pr evious session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency