The South Korea stock market moved back to the upside again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 45 points or 1.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,650-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of this week's Federal Reserve's meeting. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.
For the day, the index jumped 30.31 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 2,641.16. Volume was 569.97 million shares worth 10.79 trillion won. There were 488 gainers and 376 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.13 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.06 percent, Hana Financial jumped 1.69 percent, Samsung Electronics lost 0.39 percent, Samsung SDI improved 0.82 percent, LG Electronics spared 1.55 percent, SK Hynix skyrocketed 5.20 percent, LG Chem spiked 2.04 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 2.92 percent, S-Oil shed 0.40 percent, SK Innovation increased 1,21 percent, POSCO strengthened 1.55 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.71 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.19 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 1.14 percent, Hyundai Motor perked 0.20 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 1.84 percent and Naver was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday, slumped midday but ticked back into the green to end slightly higher.
The Dow added 43.18 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 33,876.78, while the NASDAQ rose 20.64 points or 0.16 percent to close at 13,259.14 and the S&P 500 perked 4.93 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,298.86.
For the week, the S&P rose 0.4 percent, the Dow gained 0.3 percent and the NASDAQ perked 0.1 percent.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
Thursday's report showing initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October 2021 last week added to the optimism about the Fed pausing its interest rate hikes.
Crude oil prices slumped again on Friday, extending losses from the previous session on concerns about the outlook for demand ahead of several key central bank meetings this week. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell $1.12 or 1.6 percent to $70.17 a barrel.
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