Bargain Hunting May Boost South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 80 points or 3.2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,400-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are predicted to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks, industrials and chemical companies

For the day, the index stumbled 31.78 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 2,404.15 after trading between 2,389.86 and 2,430.69. Volume was 606.4 million shares worth 9.12 trillion won. There were 703 decliners and 204 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slumped 1.23 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.27 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.74 percent, Samsung Electronics dipped 0.19 percent, Samsung SDI weakened 1.25 percent, LG Electronics stumbled 2.16 percent, SK Hynix plunged 3.71 percent, Naver rose 0.24 percent, LG Chem eased 0.19 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 3.84 percent, SK Innovation climbed 1.04 percent, POSCO Holdings declined 1.33 percent, SK Telecom tumbled 1.75 percent, KEPCO dropped 1.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis surrendered 2.40 percent, Hyundai Motor sank 0.71 percent and Kia Motors gained 0.60 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Friday but quickly bounced up into the green and stayed that way for the balance of the session.

The Dow rallied 498.06 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 42,840.26, while the NASDAQ jumped 199.80 points or 1.03 percent to close at 19,572.60 and the S&P 500 gained 63.77 points or 1.09 percent to end at 5,930.85.

For the week, the Dow plunged 2.3 percent, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.0 percent and the NASDAQ slumped 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of the Commerce Department's report on personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which came in slower than expected.

As that is the Federal Reserve's preferred reading on consumer price inflation, the slower than expected growth inspired traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the mid-week sell-off.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday as the dollar came off two-year highs after soft PCE readings eased concerns about the outlook for interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures perked $0.08 or about 0.1 percent to $69.46 a barrel. Oil futures shed 2.5 percent in the week.