Seoul stocks open higher on U . S . gains SEOUL , April 5 ( Yonhap ) -- South Korean shares opened higher Wednesday , tracking gains on Wall Street . The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 0 . 03 point to 2 , 161 . 13 in the first 20 minutes of trading . The main index tracked overnight gains on Wall Street . The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0 . 19 percent , with the tech - heavy Nasdaq composite index climbing 0 . 07 percent . Most large - cap stocks were mixed across the board . Naver , the top Internet portal operator , gained 0 . 59 percent , and top steelmaker POSCO was up 1 . 82 percent . Meanwhile , market bellwether Samsung Electronics Co . fell 0 . 76 percent , and top automaker Hyundai Motor dropped 0 . 66 percent . The local currency was trading at 1 , 122 . 75 won against the U . S . dollar , down 0 . 85 won from the previous session ' s close . entropy @ yna . co . kr ( END )