South Korea Bourse May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 10 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI market now rests just beneath the 2,480-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of earnings news and a FOMC rate decision and statement later this week. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and energy companies were sapped by weakness from the technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index added 8.22 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 2,478.56. Volume was 285.54 million shares worth 7 trillion won. There were 549 gainers and 312 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.38 percent, while KB Financial jumped 1.70 percent, Hana Financial spiked 2.51 percent, Samsung Electronics dropped 0.94 percent, Samsung SDI skyrocketed 3.74 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.53 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.02 percent, Naver rallied 1.41 percent, LG Chem accelerated 2.97 percent, Lotte Chemical shed 0.51 percent, S-Oil strengthened 1.49 percent, SK Innovation surged 3.30 percent, POSCO soared 3.12 percent, SK Telecom added 0.40 percent, KEPCO rose 0.21 percent, Hyundai Mobis plunged 2.63 percent, Hyundai Motor sank 0.74 percent and Kia Motors climbed 1.51 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday, surged midday but plummeted late in the section to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 60.33 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 38,109.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 55.14 points or 0.36 percent to close at 15,455.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.19 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,890.97. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, the NASDAQ advanced 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed disappointing earnings news from semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) against tamer than expected consumer price inflation data.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in December.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement this week. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the timing of highly anticipated rate cuts.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for oil demand thanks to upbeat U.S. economic data and the Chinese central bank's fresh stimulus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.65 or 0.84 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures spiked 6 percent for the week.