[THE INVESTOR] South Korean stocks opened slightly higher on Oct. 20, taking a cue from overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) climbed 7.84 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,480.90 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Market kingpin Samsung Electronics gained 0.83 percent, and SK hynix, a major chipmaker, advanced 1.1 percent.

Hyundai Motor, the No. 1 automaker, moved up 0.33 percent, and top chemical firm LG Chem rose 0.52 percent.

In contrast, POSCO, the steelmaker, shed 1.32 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,128.75 won against the US dollar, up 3.65 won from the previous session‘s close.

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