South Korea Shares Due For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, falling almost 45 points or 1.1 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just above the 4,110-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism over earnings news, although weakness from the technology and oil companies may limit the upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly in the green and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology, chemical and automobile companies, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index shed 24.38 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 4,110.62 after trading between 4,103.20 and 4,170.77. Volume was 534 million shares worth 20 trillion won. There were 549 gainers and 325 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.26 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.24 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.65 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.99 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.21 percent, SK Hynix stumbled 3.75 percent, Naver lost 0.41 percent, LG Chem stumbled 2.79 percent, Lotte Chemical retreated 1.63 percent, SK Innovation plunged 3.69 percent, POSCO Holdings contracted 2.07 percent, SK Telecom dipped 0.37 percent, KEPCO tumbled 2.01 percent, Hyundai Mobis and Kia Motors both sank 0.41 percent, Hyundai Motor crashed 2.31 percent and Hana Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow jumped 646.26 points or 1.34 percent to finish at a record 48,704.01, while the NASDAQ dipped 60.30 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,593.86 and the &P 500 rose 14.32 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,901.00.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Visa (V) after Bank of American upgraded its rating on the stock to Buy from Neutral. Strong gains by Nike (NKE), UnitedHealth (UNH) and American Express (AXP) also contributed to the jump by the blue chip index.

On the other hand shares of Oracle (ORCL) weighed on the NASDAQ after the company reported fiscal Q2 earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected revenues - reflecting renewed valuation concerns.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded more than expected last week.

Crude oil prices dropped on Thursday on oversupply concerns even as OPEC prepares to pause output hikes in early 2026. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.88 or 1.51 percent at $57.58 per barrel.