Renewed Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped almost 20 points or 0.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,500-point plateau although it's predicted to rebound on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on growing optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the technology stocks and industrials, while the financials and chemicals were mixed.

For the day, the index stumbled 30.28 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 2,505.01 after trading between 2,504.06 and 2,520.49. Volume was 504 million shares worth 8.6 trillion won. There were 489 decliners and 386 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.36 percent, while KB Financial sank 0.95 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.48 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.10 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 5.30 percent, LG Electronics fell 0.29 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.97 percent, Naver stumbled 0.96 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.89 percent, Lotte Chemical spiked 2.14 percent, S-Oil gained 0.73 percent, SK Innovation plunged 6.08 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.86 percent, SK Telecom surrendered 3.07 percent, KEPCO rallied 1.22 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.87 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.81 percent and Kia Motors eased 0.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages shook off early weakness on Friday, quickly moving firmly into the green and staying that way for the remainder of the session.

The Dow spiked 294.61 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 36,245.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 78.83 points or 0.55 percent to close at 14,305.03 and the S&P 500 added 26.83 points or 0.59 percent to end at 4,594.63.

For the week, the Dow surged 2.4 percent, the S&P 500 increased 0.8 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.4 percent.

The strength on Wall Street reflected ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates following a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing continued contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity last month.

Some analysts suggested that the weaker-than-expected ISM survey may spur expectations that the Fed's next move is an interest rate cut.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Friday, extending losses from the previous session amid mounting skepticism over OPEC output cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.89 or 2.5 percent at $74.07 a barrel. Oil prices have now fallen in six straight weeks.