South Korean stocks opened higher Monday amid fears of a US rate hike and China's economic concerns.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 9.6 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,514.1 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

Investor sentiment has been weighed down after China's heavily indebted property developer Evergrande Group filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States last week.

Concerns are also lingering over a possible rate hike push by the US Federal Reserve, which is set to hold its annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium later this week to discuss the likely direction of global interest rates.

On Friday, the Kospi fell for the sixth consecutive session to a three-month low.

Wall Street closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.075 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropping 0.2 percent and the S&P 500 declining 0.015 percent.

In Seoul, most top-cap companies opened higher Monday.

Market bellwether Samsung Electronics added 0.3 percent.

Leading battery maker LG Energy Solution gained 0.19 percent, Samsung SDI increased 0.34 percent, and LG Chem rose 1.05 percent.

Major biotech firm Samsung Biologics climbed 0.91 percent.

Carmakers opened mixed, with top automaker Hyundai Motor climbing 0.11 percent and Kia going down 0.13 percent.

The local currency was trading at 1,341.5 won against the dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 3.2 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)