Soft Start Anticipated For South Korea Stocks

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, tumbling more than 60 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,600-point plateau and it's likely to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Thursday following weakness from the technology and financial shares, while the energy companies offered support and the automobile producers were mixed.

For the day, the index shed 11.08 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 2,605.39. Volume was 773.9 million shares worth 14.6 trillion won. There were 523 decliners and 345 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 1.83 percent, while KB Financial plunged 2.66 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.41 percent, Samsung Electronics declined 1.57 percent, Samsung SDI retreated 1.69 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.13 percent, SK Hynix added 0.42 percent, Naver slumped 1.98 percent, LG Chem perked 0.16 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.89 percent, S-Oil rallied 2.12 percent, SK Innovation surged 3.56 percent, POSCO climbed 1.20 percent, SK Telecom lost 0.54 percent, KEPCO gained 0.67 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 1.10 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.42 percent and Kia Motors advanced 0.88 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, rallied midday but sank back into the red heading into the close.

The Dow shed 66.63 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 35,215.89, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.73 points or 0.10 percent to close at 13,858.71 and the S&P 500 fell 11.50 points or 0.25 percent to end at 4,501.89.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected continued concerns about U.S. debt after credit rating agency Fitch Ratings unexpectedly downgraded the United States' credit rating earlier this week.

Selling pressure remained somewhat subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management reported a modest slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in July.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Thursday after Saudi Arabia announced that it would extend its production cut to next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September climbed $2.06 or 2.6 percent at $81.66 a barrel.