Seoul stocks open sharply higher tracking US tech gains

South Korean stocks opened sharply higher Monday as investor sentiment was boosted by artificial intelligence gains on Wall Street. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index advanced 68.01 points, or 1.69 percent, to 4,088.56 in the first 15 minutes of trading. On Friday, major US indexes gained ground as AI stocks turned higher despite valuation woes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.38 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.31 percent, and the S&P 500 closed 0.88 percent h