[THE INVESTOR] Stocks in South Korea were spurred by overnight gains in Wall Street, opening high early Aug. 18.

The benchmark KOSPI gained 2.59 points, or 0.13 percent, to 2,046.34 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The rise followed overnight gains on Wall Street.


The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.12 percent, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite index climbing 0.03 percent.

Large-cap stocks were mixed across the board. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics gained 0.13 percent ad global chipmaker SK hynix advanced 1.34 percent.

Meanwhile, top automaker Hyundai Motor was down 1.85 percent and top auto parts-maker Hyundai Mobis declined 0.39 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,104.45 won against the US dollar, strengthening 3.85 won from the previous session‘s close.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)