South Korean stocks opened higher Thursday as oil prices bounced back from a multi-year bottom, helping lift investor sentiment here.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 6.17 points, or 0.31 percent, to 2,005.39 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

U.S. crude futures jumped 3.8 percent to $37.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, supporting the battered energy sector on Wall Street on Wednesday.

Construction and steel shares were in positive terrain.

Samsung C&T, the construction and trading unit of the Samsung Group, climbed 0.68 percent, and top steelmaker POSCO gained 1.4 percent.

Doosan Infracore, the maker of construction equipment under the Doosan Group, jumped 4.48 percent after a private equity fund operated by Standard Chartered was named as the preferred bidder with a 1.3 trillion won ($1.1 billion) offer, slightly higher than market estimate.

Local currency was trading at 1,174.4 won against the U.S. dollar as of 9:15 a.m., down 1.3 won from Wednesday's close. (Yonhap)