South Korea's KOSPI opened sharply higher on Aug. 18, led by chip-related stocks, even as Wall Street posted overnight losses and investors watched higher oil prices and waning hopes for a U.S.-Iran agreement. Yonhap said the index rose 149.83 points, or 2%, to 7,127.77 at the opening bell, while earlier Bitget market data cited by BlockBeats showed a 156.82-point, or 2.25%, rise to 7,134.76. That earlier data also showed Samsung Electronics up 3%, SK Hynix up 5.8%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 down 375.98 points, or 0.54%, to 68,844.27 at the open.