KOSPI May Extend Friday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 20 points or 0.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 3,185-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares likely to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemical companies.

For the day, the index slipped 10.31 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 3,186.01. Volume was 242.3 million shares worth 8.8 trillion won. There were 579 decliners and 301 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial declined 1.21 percent, while KB Financial sank 0.82 percent, Hana Financial dropped 0.84 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.14 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.95 percent, LG Electronics slumped 0.95 percent, SK Hynix perked 0.19 percent, Naver retreated 1.38 percent, LG Chem stumbled 2.50 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 0.94 percent, SK Innovation contracted 1.46 percent, POSCO Holdings shed 0.87 percent, SK Telecom weakened 1.28 percent, KEPCO tumbled 2.02 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 5.29 percent, Hyundai Motor lost 0.90 percent and Kia Motors perked 0.09 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 92.02 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 45,544.88, while the NASDAQ tumbled 249.65 points or 1.15 percent to end at 21,455.55 and the S&P 500 sank 41.60 points or 0.64 percent to close at 6,420.26. For the week, the S&P 500 eased 0.1 percent and the Dow and NASDAQ both dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking, as some traders looked to cash in on the recent strength in the markets.

Meanwhile, traders seemingly shrugged off a typically closely watched Commerce Department report showing U.S. consumer prices increased in line with estimates in July.

While the data increased confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates, a September rate cut may already have been priced into the markets. CME Group's FedWatch is currently indicating an 87.1 percent chance that the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point at its next monetary policy meeting.

Crude oil prices fell Friday on concerns on overproduction concerns as OPEC recently agreed to increase crude production by 547,000 barrels per day in September. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.60 or 0.93 percent at $64.00 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea is scheduled to release preliminary August numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. In July, imports were up 0.7 percent on year and exports rose 5.8 percent for a trade surplus of $6.61 billion.