Tech Shares May Boost South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 100 points or 2.5 percent in that span. Now at another fresh record closing high, the KOSPI sits just above the 4,100-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with earnings optimism tempered by interest rate pessimism. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the automobile producers and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index added 20.61 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 4,107.50 after trading between 4,059.74 and 4,122.09. Volume was 386.2 million shares worth 20.8 trillion won. There were 557 decliners and 318 gainers.

Among the actives, KB Financial collected 0.69 percent, while Hana Financial shed 0.47 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 3.27 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.14 percent, SK Hynix stumbled 1.58 percent, Naver soared 4.74 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.85 percent, Lotte Chemical dropped 0.98 percent, SK Innovation plunged 4.23 percent, POSCO Holdings surrendered 2.82 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.76 percent, KEPCO slumped 0.93 percent, Hyundai Mobis soared 2.93 percent, Hyundai Motor skyrocketed 9.43 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 3.18 percent and Shinhan Financial and LG Electronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday, dipped midday but rebounded into the close to finish in the green.

The Dow added 40.75 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 47,562.87, while the NASDAQ climbed 143.81 points or 0.61 percent to end at 23,724.96 and the S&P 500 rose 17.86 points or 0.26 percent to close at 6,840.20. For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the Dow added 0.8 percent and the S&P gained 0.7 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN), which reached a new record closing high after reporting better than expected third quarter results amid a sharp increase in revenue.

Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the volatility on Wall Street following Federal Reserve Jerome Powell's remarks earlier this week.

While the Fed lowered interest rates by another quarter point as widely expected on Wednesday, Powell's post-meeting remarks partly offset optimism about another rate cut in December.

Crude oil prices edged higher Friday following reports the U.S. intends to strike Venezuelan military installations. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.98 per barrel.