Seoul shares open higher as banks, autos advance

SEOUL, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Seoul shares opened higher on Monday after a strong rally in Wall Street on Friday on hopes of a recovery after a disastrous 2008, with banks including KB Financial Group rising on prospects for an interest rate cut.

KB Financial (105560.KS) was up 4.72 percent.

Automakers also continued to rise after December sales figures released on Friday were not as bad as the market had feared.

Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), the world's No.5 automaker, gained 4.44 percent.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index was up 1.54 percent at 1,175.21 points as of 0004 GMT.

(Reporting by Jungyoun Park; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)