Seoul shares open higher on U.S. gains amid rate woes

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Seoul shares open higher on U.S. gains amid rate woes

SEOUL, July 19 (Yonhap) -- Seoul shares opened higher Wednesday, tracking gains on Wall Street, as investors remain concerned over the Federal Reserve's additional rate hikes to tame inflation.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.46 point, or 0.02 percent, to 2,608.08 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1 percent to 34,951.93 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8 percent to 14,353.64.

Investors are keeping an eye on the U.S. central bank, which is widely expected to raise rates further this year to achieve its inflation target of 2 percent.

In Seoul, large-cap shares opened mixed.

Market behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. rose 0.3 percent, while No. 2 chipmaker SK hynix Inc. fell 0.08 percent. Top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. shed 0.5 percent, and its sister company Kia was down 0.9 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,265.30 won against the U.S. dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 4.9 won from the previous session's close.

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