South Korea Shares May Head South Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market inches higher again on Friday, one day after halting the seven-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 150 points or 5.7 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,650-point plateau although it figures to face renewed selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the industrials, weakness from the technology stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index added 0.52 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 2,654.58 after trading between 2,638.44 and 2,656.04. Volume was 434.84 million shares worth 11.03 trillion won. There were 508 gainers and 370 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.74 percent, while Hana Financial fell 0.32 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.34 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.79 percent, LG Electronics eased 0.12 percent, SK Hynix slumped 1.18 percent, Naver rallied 2.26 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.83 percent, Lotte Chemical lost 0.53 percent, SK Innovation added 0.50 percent, POSCO Holdings surged 5.03 percent, SK Telecom retreated 1.52 percent, Hyundai Mobis was down 0.39 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.48 percent, Kia Motors perked 0.11 percent and KB Financial and KEPCO were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.