South Korean opened higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 6.24 points, or 0.26 percent, to trade at 2,393.09 points in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, US. stocks rose as tech shares rallied on solid corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 0.15 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite surged 1.58 percent.

In Seoul, tech and chemical shares gathered ground, while financials and autos fell to limit the upturn of the index.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics rose 1.16 percent, and battery giant LG Energy Solution advanced 1.04 percent. Major chemical firm LG Chem added 1.11 percent.

Internet portal operator Naver surged 3.05 percent, and platform giant Kakao climbed 1.5 percent.

But No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix lost 0.98 percent.

KB Financial Group also skidded 1.24 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group decreased 0.7 percent.

Carmakers also fell, with leading carmaker Hyundai Motor falling 1.06 percent and its smaller affiliate Kia decreasing 0.74 percent.

No. 1 steelmaker POSCO lost 1.08 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,312.80 won against the US. dollar, up 0.1 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)