South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Wednesday, led by tech and financial shares, as investors awaited earnings results from U.S. AI chip giant Nvidia.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 8.1 points, or 0.33 percent, to 2,480.05 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Nasdaq composite rose more than 1 percent on a 4.9 percent jump in Nvidia as the chipmaker is set to release its quarterly results on Wednesday (U.S. time).

In Seoul, tech and bank shares led the upbeat opening.

Chipmaker SK hynix added 1.88 percent, and Hanmi Semiconductor, a leading chipmaking equipment supplier, rose 2.85 percent.

KB Financial Group moved up 3.28 percent, and Shinhan Financial Group increased 3.72 percent.

Major bio tech firms Samsung Biologics and SK bioscience advanced 0.44 percent and 0.86 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, tech giant Samsung Electronics retreated 0.36 percent.

The local currency had been trading at 1,391.05 won against the greenback as of 9:15 a.m., down 0.15 won from the previous session. (Yonhap)