Mild Upside Seen For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after snapping the five-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 85 points or 3.7 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,600-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on better-than-expected inflation data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology stocks and automobile producers, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index dipped 3.56 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 2,601.56. Volume was 560.4 million shares worth 11.2 trillion won. There were 486 gainers and 393 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.85 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.18 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.31 percent, Samsung SDI slumped 1.89 percent, LG Electronics tanked 2.67 percent, Naver skidded 1.10 percent, LG Chem added 0.63 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.98 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.42 percent, SK Innovation eased 0.16 percent, POSCO perked 0.17 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.11 percent, KEPCO tumbled 1.76 percent, Hyundai Mobis tumbled 2.35 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.53 percent and Kia Motors, Hana Financial and SK Hynix were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, ending just barely in the green.

The Dow added 52.79 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 35,176.15, while the NASDAQ gained 15.97 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,737.99 and the S&P 500 perked 1.12 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,468.83.

The early rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing the annual rate of consumer price inflation accelerated less than expected in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month, economists suggested sticky core inflation could leave the door open for the Fed to resume raising rates in November.

Oil prices fell from multi-month highs Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China after imports plummeted. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.58 at $$82.82 a barrel.