KOSPI May Remain Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in two of three days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 40 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 3,190-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly directionless amidst a lack of catalysts, with oil and biotechnology stocks likely to fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financial and automobile shares, gains from the chemicals and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 4.22 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 3,188.07. Volume was 389.98 million shares worth 11.84 trillion won. There were 589 decliners and 303 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.43 percent, while KB Financial slumped 1.22 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.44 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 0.60 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 1.96 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.26 percent, SK Hynix dipped 0.19 percent, Naver lost 0.62 percent, LG Chem improved 0.86 percent, Lotte Chemical advanced 0.92 percent, SK Innovation strengthened 1.70 percent, POSCO Holdings climbed 1.14 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.71 percent, KEPCO shed 0.68 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.46 percent, Hyundai Motor added 0.24 percent and Kia Motors was down 0.40 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but quickly turned lower before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 142.31 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 44,342.19, while the NASDAQ rose 10.06 points or 0.05 percent to close at 20,895.66 and the S&P 500 dipped 0.57 points or 0.01 percent to end at 6,296.79.

For the week, the NASDAQ jumped 1.5 percent the S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent and the Dow dipped 0.1 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came on profit taking after the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 reached new record intraday highs at the open.

The pullback came amid a slump by shares of Netflix (NFLX), after the company reported better than expected second quarter results but warned its operating margin in the second half will be lower than the first half.

Crude oil prices turned lower on Friday after OPEC's demand forecast prompted concerns of a production surplus. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery closed down by $0.20 at $67.34 per barrel.