South Korean stocks opened flat Thursday as investors took to the sidelines gauging the Federal Reserve's future rate policy in the wake of the country's short selling ban.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index fell 0.04 point, or 0.00 percent, to 2,421.58 in the first 15 minutes of trading.

US stocks closed mixed overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 0.12 percent and the Nasdaq Composite rising 0.08 percent, as investors largely sat on the sidelines while heeding signs of the Fed's future policy direction.

Blue chips traded mixed across the board, with tech giant Samsung Electronics inching down 0.14 percent, while leading battery maker LG Energy Solution gained 0.11 percent.

Top steelmaker Posco Holdings and leading automaker Hyundai Motor fell 0.22 percent and 0.23 percent, respectively.

The local currency was trading at 1311.40 won against the US dollar at 9:15 a.m., down 0.80 won from the previous session's close. (Yonhap)