Seoul shares up late Thu. morning amid Nvidia controversies

SEOUL, Nov. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks traded fairly higher late Thursday morning on strong gains in tech shares amid escalating controversies over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 61.41 points, or 1.14 percent, to 5,436.77 as of 11:20 a.m.

Opening 0.2 percent higher, the index fluctuated between gains and losses throughout the morning trading session.

Overnight on Wall Street, three major stock indexes finished higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49 percent, the S&P 500 gained 1.31 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.6 percent.

Strong earnings reports from neocloud firm CoreWeave eased investor concerns over the profitability of massive AI investment.

However, Nvidia fell sharply after the market closed following new reports on Huang's alleged multiple extramarital affairs.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics jumped 3.4 percent, and chipmaker SK hynix added 2.04 percent.

Shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai Heavy Industries gained 3.05 percent, and K-pop powerhouse Hybe soared 5.55 percent.

However, Naver tumbled 5.61 percent as Nvidia is the third-largest shareholder of the company.

The Korean won was trading at 1,334.4 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 1.8 won from the previous session's close.