Seoul stocks came off to a choppy start Tuesday after an over two-year trough the previous day amid rising woes over a global recession in the wake of aggressive monetary tightening moves in major economies.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 5.59 points, or 0.25 percent, to 2,226.53 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

The KOSPI dipped 3.02 percent and the secondary KOSDAQ sank 5.07 percent on Monday as investors were increasingly concerned about a global recession caused by the Federal Reserve and other central banks in major economies.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.11 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite retreated 0.6 percent. The S&P500 lost 1.03 percent.

In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.56 percent, and SK hynix, the world's second-largest memory chip maker, traded flat.

Top automaker Hyundai Motor gained 1.37 percent, and battery maker LG Energy Solutions edged up 0.22 percent. Leading chemical firm LG Chem slipped 0.18 percent.

The Korean won also climbed over the US dollar after closing at the lowest level in over 13 years.

The Korean won was changing hands at 1,426.8 won against the US dollar as of 9:15 a.m., up 4.5 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)