Seoul shares opened higher Thursday as Wall Street rallied after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will not wait until inflation "gets all the way down to 2 percent" for a rate cut.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index jumped 27.35 points, or 0.95 percent, to 2,895.29 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 rose to record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also increased 1.09 percent.

The bullish run came after Powell made the remark during his testimony to the US House Financial Services Committee, amid the market's hope that a rate cut may happen as early as September.

In Seoul, top tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 0.91 percent and No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix added 3.56 percent.

Leading carmaker Hyundai Motors moved up 1.28 percent and its sister Kia gained 0.25 percent. Auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis climbed 0.86 percent.

South Korea's top online search engine operator Naver added 0.17 percent, while its rival Kakao shed 0.12 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,381.1 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., up 3.6 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)