Kospi opens higher on chip gains

Shares opened higher Friday as semiconductor heavyweights showed a strong performance despite overnight losses on Wall Street.

After starting marginally lower, the Kospi added 28.46 points, or 0.52 percent, to 5,417.23 in the first 15 minutes of trading, continuing its bullish run after hitting the 5,500-point milestone for the first time the previous day.

Overnight, major U.S. indexes closed lower as concerns over the profitability of hardware companies amid the hike in memory chip prices and the spread of AI services can hurt different businesses, such as software.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.34 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 2.03 percent and the S&P 500 lost 1.57 percent.

Investors' eyes are now on the U.S. consumer prices data set to be released Friday, which will give clues on the Fed's monetary policy direction.

In Seoul, tech giant Samsung Electronics jumped 2.97 percent, and its chipmaking rival SK hynix rose 1.46 percent.

AI investment firm SK Square climbed 1.58 percent.

Most of the other big-cap shares started in the negative territory.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution shed 2.8 percent, and defense giant Hanwha Aerospace dipped 1.59 percent.

Major shipbuilders, HD Hyundai Heavy and Hanwha Ocean, lost 0.93 percent and 2.28 percent, respectively.

Financial shares also lost ground following days of rally.

KB Financial went down 1.07 percent, Shinhan Financial dropped 1.79 percent, and Hana Financial declined 1 percent.

Auto giant Hyundai Motor edged down 0.2 percent, and its sister Kia contracted 0.66 percent.

The local currency weakened 0.4 won from the previous session to trade at 1,440.6 against the greenback at 9:15 a.m.

Yonhap