The South Korea stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 45 points or 1.5 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,970-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is firm as they get to react to better than expected employment data from the United States and the corresponding bump in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and chemical companies, gains from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the technology and oil stocks.
For the day, the index slipped 13.95 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 2,969.27 after trading between 2,953.96 and 3,003.53. Volume was 676 million shares worth 12.4 trillion won. There were 608 decliners and 269 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.92 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.61 percent, Hana Financial declined 1.46 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.57 percent, LG Electronics added 0.41 percent, SK Hynix climbed 0.94 percent, Samsung SDI gathered 0.53 percent, Naver fell 0.24 percent, LG Chem fell 0.51 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 3.94 percent, S-Oil jumped 1.21 percent, SK Innovation surrendered 2.51 percent, POSCO plunged 4.20 percent, KEPCO dipped 0.22 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 0.47 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 1.15 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday, faded somewhat as the day progressed but still ended solidly in the green at fresh record closing highs.
The Dow jumped 203.72 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 36,327.95, while the NASDAQ added 31.28 points or 0.20 percent to close at 15,971.59 and the S&P 500 rose 17.47 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,697.53. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.1 percent, the S&P jumped 2 percent and the Dow gained 1.4 percent.
The continued strength on Wall Street came after the Labor Department reported that U.S. employment increased by more than expected in October.
The Labor Department described the job growth as widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing.
Signals from the Federal Reserve suggesting it is not in a hurry to raise interests also continued to generate buying interest even as the central bank begins scaling back its asset purchases.
Crude oil prices showed a strong move to the upside Friday as traders continued to digest news that OPEC and its allies decided to stick with a plan to raise oil output modestly and gradually. West Texas Intermediate Crude for December delivery jumped $2.46 or 3.1 percent to $81.27 a barrel.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
