Seoul stocks move up late Monday morning on chip rebound

SEOUL, Nov. 9 (Yonhap) -- Seoul stocks reversed course to trade higher on Monday, buoyed by a rebound by the country's semiconductor giants.

After opening lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was up 84.21 points, or 1.66 percent, to 5,143.9.

On Friday (U.S. time) major stock indexes on Wall Street closed higher, bolstered by a recovery of major chip shares. The S&P 500 inched up 0.31 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.09 percent.

Investors are keeping an eye on fresh uncertainties surrounding Nvidia Corp., after the U.S. chipmaker said it opened an internal probe following reports its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy.

In Seoul, large-cap shares were trading mixed.

Semiconductor giant Samsung Electronics rose 2.97 percent, while its rival SK hynix strengthened 4.15 percent.

Carmaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.36 percent, defense giant Hanwha Aerospace slid 1.67 percent, and financial firm KB Financial added 1.13 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,357.1 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 5.9 won from the previous trading session's close.