SEOUL: South Korean stocks started higher Friday as investors piled up bio shares after Hanmi Pharmaceutical announced a mega license agreement with a French drugmaker.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index added 2.45 points, or 0.12 percent, to 2,051.86 in the first 15 minutes of trading.
Bio shares got off to a strong start after Hanmi Pharmaceutical on Thursday said it reached a license agreement with Sanofi to develop a portfolio of experimental, long-acting diabetes treatments, worth up to 3.9 billion euros ($4.2 billion). Its shares soared by the daily limit of 30 percent.
Green Cross Corp. jumped 6.59 percent, and Yuhan Corp. rose 3.3 percent.
