▲ Officials work at the dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean stocks started sharply higher Monday, driven by gains in tech shares, despite heightened military tensions in the Middle East.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 223.57 points, or 3.34 percent, to 6,910.78 at the opening bell.

Overnight, military attacks intensified between the United States and Iran.

Tehran said it targeted three oil tankers using an unauthorized route through the Strait of Hormuz, as well as several U.S.-linked vessels, in retaliation for U.S. attacks on Iranian tankers.

On Friday, U.S. stocks closed lower on strong job data, which raised the possibility of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.51 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.29 percent.

However, the PHLX semiconductor index rose 3.38 percent on the release of OpenAI's new GPT-6 Astra, which is expected to boost demand for memory chips.

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