Seoul shares open higher on bargain hunting after chip rout

Seoul shares opened sharply higher Wednesday as investors went bargain hunting following a nearly 11 percent dip the previous session on a loss in chipmaking stocks.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 65.45 points, or 1.09 percent, to 6,089.11 in early trading.

The index plunged 10.84 percent to close at 6,023.66 amid woes over the future of large-scale investment into artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and rising competition from China, which led to a heavy sell-off of AI-related stocks, such as chipmakers.

Overnight, Wall Street ended mixed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.03 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slipped 0.22 percent.

Investor concerns over spending on artificial intelligence (AI) continued to weigh on semiconductor stocks despite a three-day slide in oil prices. ...