Additional Support Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday halted the two-day slide in which it had plummeted almost 100 points or 4.1 percent to a fresh 19-month closing low. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,365-point plateau and it's expected to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the oversold Asian markets is broadly positive, with the oil, technology and financial sectors expected to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index rallied 52.28 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 2,366.60 after trading between 2,319.99 and 2,373.48. Volume was 643.76 million shares worth 8.32 trillion won. There were 875 gainers and 44 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 2.52 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.30 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.60 percent, Samsung Electronics improved 1.74 percent, LG Electronics gained 0.79 percent, SK Hynix strengthened 1.55 percent, Naver surged 5.77 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.45 percent, Lotte Chemical gathered 1.91 percent, S-Oil accelerated 1.97 percent, SK Innovations shed 0.50 percent, POSCO perked 1.71 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.49 percent, KEPCO soared 5.39 percent, Hyundai Motor climbed 1.17 percent and Kia Motors rose 0.39 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and remained that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 823.28 points or 2.68 percent to finish at 31,500.68, while the NASDAQ rallied 375.42 points or 3.34 percent to end at 11,607.62 and the S&P 500 jumped 116.01 points or 3.06 percent to close at 3,911.74.

For the holiday-shortened week, the NASDAQ soared by 7.5 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Dow spiked by 6.4 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

Traders continue to express concerns about inflation, interest rates and a potential recession but may feel to sell-off earlier this month was overdone.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department unexpectedly reported a significant rebound in new home sales in May. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in the U.S. tumbled more than expected in June.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on optimism for continued high demand for energy and tight supply. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $3.35 or 3.2 percent at $107.62 a barrel. WTI futures shed 1.8 percent in the week.