The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 70 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,200-point plateau and it's looking at another green light for Monday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism for the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financials, technology stocks and oil and chemical companies.
For the day, the index gained 18.46 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 3,197.20 after trading between 3,179.63 and 3,205.11. Volume was 972 million shares worth 14.8 trillion won. There were 645 gainers and 223 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial climbed 1.22 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.39 percent, Hana Financial dipped 0.11 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.49 percent, LG Electronics gathered 0.99 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.39 percent, Naver eased 0.14 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.03 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 1.64 percent, S-Oil retreated 1.15 percent, SK Innovation gained 0.71 percent, POSCO perked 0.63 percent, SK Telecom advanced 0.81 percent, KEPCO spiked 2.97 percent, Hyundai Motor was up 0.22 percent and Kia Motors improved 0.62 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mostly higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow jumped 229.26 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 34,777.76, while the NASDAQ spiked 119.44 points or 0.88 percent to end at 13,752.24 and the S&P 500 added 30.98 points or 0.74 percent to close at 4,232.60. For the week, the Dow surged 2.7 percent, the NASDAQ fell 1.5 percent and the S&P 500 gained 1.2 percent.
The strength on Wall Street followed the closely watched Labor Department report showing weaker than expected job growth in April. Traders reacted positively to this because the it reinforced the view the Federal Reserve will leave ultra-easy monetary policy in place for the foreseeable future.
The data led to a particularly strong upward move by high-growth tech stocks, which are seen as more susceptible to higher interest rates.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday on optimism for increased demand in Europe and the U.S. although gains were capped by coronavirus concerns in Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $0.19 or 0.3 percent at $64.90 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 2.1 percent in the week.
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