[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks opened higher on Aug. 23 tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. The Korean won rose against the US dollar.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 12.22 points, or 0.52 percent, to 2,367.22 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

On Aug. 22, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.90 percent to 21,899.89 and the tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 1.36 percent to 6,297.48.

Analysts expected the Seoul stock market to move in a tight range as investors find no strong upward momentum in the markets ahead of the US Federal Reserve‘s annual economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Most large-cap stocks traded higher, with technology shares leading gains.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 1.19 percent, No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix climbed 0.59 percent. But top carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.34 percent and its affiliate Kia Motors also declined 0.42 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,132.95 won against the US dollar, up 0.85 won from the previous session’s close.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)