South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Tuesday on tech gains.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 17.3 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,526.1 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, Wall Street closed mixed, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite rallying 1.56 percent and the S&P 500 rising 0.69 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.11 percent.

US chipmaker Nvidia, which has spurred the artificial intelligence boom this year, sharply rose 8.3 percent ahead of its earnings report slated for Wednesday.

SoftBank's chip designer Arm also filed for a Nasdaq listing at a $64 billion valuation, the biggest US initial public offering in nearly two years.

In Seoul, most top-cap companies opened higher, with chip companies leading the gains.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rallied 0.9 percent, and its smaller semiconductor rival SK hynix jumped 2.23 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution advanced 2.09 percent, Samsung SDI increased 1.02 percent, and LG Chem rose 1.94 percent.

Internet giant Naver surged 3.26 percent.

Carmakers also opened strong, with top automaker Hyundai Motor climbing 0.43 percent and Kia going up 0.51 percent.

Among the decliners, major biotech firm Samsung Biologics shed 0.9 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,341.4 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 1.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)