Kospi opens higher as U.S. bond yields retreat

Stocks opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as U.S. Treasury yields eased on plans for increased debt buybacks.

After opening 3.23 percent higher, the Kospi pared some of its early gains, adding 197.28 points, or 3.05 percent, to 6,668.45 as of 9:15 a.m.

The index plunged nearly 6 percent the previous session on tech sell-offs amid woes over rising bond yields.

Overnight, Wall Street's major indexes closed higher as U.S. Treasury yields retreated after the Treasury Department announced plans to significantly increase buybacks of longer-term government debts.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond, which had climbed to its highest level since 2007, fell Wednesday along with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22 percent, and the S&P 500 added 0.21 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.16 percent.

In Seoul, chipmakers led the gains, recouping some of their losses from the previous session.

Samsung Electronics rose 4.5 percent, and SK hynix jumped 7.93 percent a day after announcing plans to buy back 40 trillion won ($28.7 billion) worth of shares for shareholder returns.

SK Square, the parent firm of SK hynix, surged 5.98 percent, while Samsung Electro-Mechanics, an electronics component affiliate of Samsung Electronics, slid 0.87 percent.

The local currency fell 0.2 won from the previous session to trade at 1,389.3 against the greenback at 9:15 a.m.

Yonhap