Tech Shares Poised To Fuel South Korea Stocks

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 80 points or 3.2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,410-point plateau although it figures to rebound significantly on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on renewed optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the industrials and chemicals, gains from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index sank 17.42 points or 0.72 percent to finish at 2,409.66. Volume was 304.12 million shares worth 5.61 trillion won. There were 600 decliners and 259 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 1.44 percent, while KB Financial perked 0.19 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.74 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.28 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 4.44 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.95 percent, Naver declined 1.77 percent, LG Chem tumbled 2.14 percent, Lotte Chemical crashed 8.62 percent, S-Oil eased 0.15 percent, SK Innovation plunged 3.46 percent, POSCO tanked 2.82 percent, SK Telecom added 0.50 percent, KEPCO retreated 1.40 percent, Hyundai Mobis fell 0.45 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.57 percent, Kia Motors lost 0.65 percent and LG Electronics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and continued to advance as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 391.20 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 34,283.10, while the NASDAQ rallied 276.71 points or 2.05 percent to end at 13,798.11 and the S&P 500 jumped 67.89 points or 1.56 percent to close at 4,415.24. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 2.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders shrugged off concerns about the outlook for interest rates sparked by remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday. Powell said the Fed is unsure rates are at a restrictive level to bring inflation down to 2 percent and warned the central bank would not hesitate to resume raising rates.

Despite Powell's comments, CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently still suggests the Fed is likely to leave interest rates over the next several months before cutting rates in mid-2024.

Stocks initially benefited from a pullback by treasury yields, which surged in afternoon trading on Thursday following a disappointing 30-year bond auction as well as Powell's comments. But the major averages continued to advance over the even though yields rebounded.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, but the most active oil futures contract still suffered a third weekly loss as the disruption threats continued to fade. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.43 or 1.9 percent at $77.17 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed more than 4 percent in the week.