Profit Taking Expected For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, improving more than 120 points or 5 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,480-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher again on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks, chemicals and automobile producers.

For the day, the index rallied 39.61 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 2,482.12. Volume was 651.7 million shares worth 11.86 trillion won. There were 616 gainers and 277 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.40 percent, while KB Financial strengthened 1.87 percent, Hana Financial increased 1.35 percent, Samsung Electronics spiked 3.52 percent, Samsung SDI soared 2.62 percent, LG Electronics advanced 0.84 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.50 percent, Naver plummeted 4.59 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.90 percent, Lotte Chemical surged 3.50 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.76 percent, POSCO Holdings gained 0.73 percent, KEPCO retreated 1.40 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 1.20 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.20 percent, Kia Motors improved 0.73 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but quickly headed south and remained in the red for the balance of day, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 234.44 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 43,914.12, while the NASDAQ sank 132.05 points or 0.66 percent to close at 19,769.84 and the S&P 500 lost 32.94 points or 0.54 percent to end at 6,051.25.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on the strong performance seen on Wednesday, when the tech-heavy NASDAQ closed above 20,000 for the first time ever.

Some negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of November.

While the Federal Reserve is still widely expected to lower interest rates next week, the data has raised some concerns about how quickly the central bank will cut rates early next year.

Oil futures closed lower Thursday after three days of gains after the International Energy Agency's forecast that the oil market will see excess supply next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.27 or 0.4 percent at $70.02 a barrel.