Little Movement Seen For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 45 points or 1.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,415-point plateau and it may be stuck in neutral again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting likely to offset concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index tumbled 56.44 points or 2.28 percent to finish at the daily low of 2,415.61 after peaking at 2,443.61. Volume was 563.43 million shares worth 8.15 trillion won. There were 827 decliners and 78 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial plummeted 4.64 percent, while KB Financial crashed 3.44 percent, Hana Financial plunged 4.46 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.18 percent, Samsung SDI surrendered 3.85 percent, LG Electronics dropped 3.27 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.94 percent, Naver declined 1.67 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.42 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 2.57 percent, S-Oil stumbled 2.36 percent, SK Innovation cratered 6.05 percent, POSCO slipped 0.78 percent, SK Telecom added 0.58 percent, KEPCO slumped 2.86 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.26 and Kia Motors sank 0.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but a late-day rally pushed the Down and S&P 500 into the green at the close.

The Dow added 145.99 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 31,656.42, while the NASDAQ slipped 31.08 points or 0.26 percent to end at 11,785.13 and the S&P 500 rose 11.85 points or 0.30 percent to close at 3,966.85.

Bargain hunting contributed to the rebound on Wall Street, with traders picking up stocks at reduced levels after the major averages once again fell to their lowest levels in over a month.

The early selloff on Wall Street also came as the latest labor and manufacturing data was seen as confirming the Federal Reserve's stance that it can remain aggressive with the tightening of policy.

With the more closely watched monthly jobs report looming later today, the Labor Department this morning unexpectedly reported a modest decrease in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures ended sharply lower Thursday on rising concerns about the outlook for energy demand and worries that aggressive rate hikes by major central banks may lead to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $2.94 or 3.3 percent at $86.61 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide August numbers for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on month and 6.1 percent on year - slowing from 0.5 percent on month and 6.3 percent on year in July.