South Korea Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has ticked lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 15 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,470-point plateau and it's likely to remain stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the technology and steel stocks, gains from the financials and automobile producers and mixed performances from the oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index shed 11.79 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 2,469.73. Volume was 653.41 million shares worth 8.3 trillion won. There were 607 decliners and 283 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surged 2.78 percent, while KB Financial soared 2.77 percent, Hana Financial rallied 2.09 percent, Samsung Electronics slumped 0.32 percent, Samsung SDI slid 0.41 percent, LG Electronics spiked 2.41 percent, SK Hynix sank 0.95 percent, LG Chem skidded 1.03 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.65 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.89 percent, POSCO tumbled 1.96 percent, SK Telecom added 0.64 percent, KEPCO fell 0.31 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 0.73 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 0.46 percent, Kia Motors advanced 0.98 percent and Lotte Chemical and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Friday, although only the NASDAQ ended the session in the red.

The Dow climbed 169.37 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 33,869.27, while the NASDAQ sank 71.48 points or 061 percent to end at 11,718.12 and the S&P 500 rose 8.96 points or 0.22 percent to close at 4,090.46.

For the week, the NASSDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent, the S&P lost 1.1 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's closely watched inflation data.

Traders also reacted to mixed February consumer sentiment data released by the University of Michigan. While consumer sentiment saw a continued improvement in February, the report also showed a rebound in near-term inflation expectations.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Friday on continued optimism about higher fuel demand from China, and on Russia's move to reduce oil output next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.66 or 2.1 percent at $79.72 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9 percent in the week.