Seoul shares open higher on Samsung

SEOUL, South Korean stocks opened slightly higher Tuesday backed by strong earnings performance by top cap Samsung Electronics and overnight U.S. stock gains. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) gained 7.81 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,665.25 in the first 15 minutes of trading. Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip manufacturer, announced earlier in the day its first quarter operating profit shot up more than tenfold from a year ago in the first quarter, with its chip business shifting to the black for the first time in five quarters. Overnight, Wall Street shares advanced ahead of key corporate earnings announcements and the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision meeting this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq also added 0.4 percent. The SandP 500 gained 0.3 percent. Market bellwether Samsung Electronics went up 0.52 percent, while consumer electronics rival LG Electronics added 0.43 percent. Battery shares also fared be tter, with industry leader LG Energy Solution rising 1.59 percent and smaller rival POSCO Future M gaining 0.87 percent. On the contrary, auto and finance shares lost ground, with Hyundai Motor losing 0.99 percent and Kookmin Financial tumbling 1.96 percent. The local currency was trading at 1,375.3 won against the U.S. dollar, down 1.7 won from the previous session's close. Source: Yonhap News Agency