South Korea Shares Due For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 60 points or 2.2 percent along the way. Now at a 22-month closing high, the KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,720-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher again on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and chemicals, while the technology and industrial companies were mixed.

For the day, the index advanced 25.19 points or 0.94 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,718.76 after moving as low as 2,696.31. Volume was 587 million shares worth 13.5 trillion won. There were 508 gainers and 365 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial skyrocketed 8.12 percent, while KB Financial strengthened 1.42 percent, Hana Financial surged 6.25 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.27 percent, Samsung SDI plunged 2.94 percent, LG Electronics spiked 1.74 percent, SK Hynix skidded 1.04 percent, Naver dropped 0.85 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.63 percent, Lotte Chemical rallied 2.18 percent, S-Oil soared 5.56 percent, SK Innovation dipped 0.24 percent, POSCO retreated 1.34 percent, SK Telecom improved 1.69 percent, KEPCO gained 3.33 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 4.54 percent, Hyundai Motor climbed 1.21 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 2.01 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly headed south and stayed modestly lower for the rest of the day.

The Dow dropped 137.66 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 28,905.66, while the NASDAQ sank 49.24 points or 0.30 percent to close at 16,128.53 and the S&P 500 fell 14.83 points or 0.29 percent to end at 5,150.48.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the Federal Reserve further postponing its first interest rate cut following the release of hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data for February.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales rebounded in February, although the increase fell short of estimates.

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday, extending gains from the previous day as the International Energy Agency (IEA) upwardly raised its global demand growth forecast. West Texas International Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $1.54 or 1.9 percent at $81.26 a barrel.