Seoul shares turn higher late Tuesday morning on tech gains

The benchmark KOSPI is displayed at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

Korean shares turned higher late Tuesday morning as foreign investors scooped up big-cap tech shares on bargain hunting.

After opening 0.95 percent lower, the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 33.37 points, or 0.53 percent, at 6,333.03 as of as of 11:20 a.m.

Foreign investors bought up a net 1.29 trillion won ($911.2 million) worth of shares, offsetting a combined 1.13 trillion-won selling spree by retail and institutional investors.

On Monday (local time), the U.S. stock market edged down from its all-time high the previous session as oil prices rose on uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen to shipping.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1 percent from its record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent.

In Seoul, most large-cap shares traded mixed.

After opening lower, market bellwether Samsung Electronics went up 3.26 percent, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix dipped 0.63 percent.

The Korean won was trading at 1,415.8 won against the U.S. dollar as of 11:20 a.m., up 2.5 won from the close of stock trading the previous day.