Continued Consolidation Called For KOSPI

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed almost 40 points or 1.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,395-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of this week's FOMC rate decision, while disappointing earnings news may weigh on tech sectors. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials, chemicals, oil companies and technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 16.02 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 2,393.14 after trading between 2,391.48 and 2,417.91. Volume was 375.51 million shares worth 6.86 trillion won. There were 506 decliners and 331 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.56 percent, while KB Financial tumbled 1.85 percent, Hana Financial plunged 3.34 percent, Samsung Electronics sank 0.81 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.18 percent, LG Electronics slumped 0.74 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.44 percent, Naver eased 0.20 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.41 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.88 percent, S-Oil plummeted 3.63 percent, SK Innovation surrendered 2.46 percent, POSCO fell 0.43 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.58 percent, KEPCO declined 0.46 percent, Hyundai Motor climbed 1.06 percent and Kia Motors stumbled 1.34 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages were unable to held early gains on Friday, quickly slipping into the red and finishing near session lows.

The Dow shed 137.61 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 31,899.29, while the NASDAQ tumbled 225.50 points or 1.87 percent to end at 11,834.11 and the S&P 500 slumped 37.32 points or 0.93 percent to close at 3,961.63.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P jumped 2.5 percent and the Dow climbed 2.0 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street also came as traders looked ahead to this week's highly anticipated monetary policy decision by the Federal Reserve. The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by at least 75 basis points as part of its ongoing efforts to combat elevated inflation.

A steep drop by shares of Snap Inc. (SNAP) weighed on the tech-heavy NASDAQ after the company reported disappointing second quarter results and declined to provide guidance. Social media giant Twitter (TWTR) also reported second quarter results that missed estimates.

Crude oil futures settled sharply lower on Friday as prices fell on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $1.65 or 1.7 percent at $94.70 a barrel.