Rebound Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 30 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,450-point plateau, although it's expected to cut into those losses on Monday.

The global forecast for Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected after some heavy selling last week. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the chemicals, industrials and financials.

For the day, the index plunged 48.76 points or 1.95 percent to finish at 2,455.91. Volume was 377.33 million shares worth 8.91 trillion won. There were 723 decliners and 170 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.93 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.84 percent, Hana Financial declined 2.35 percent, Samsung Electronics stumbled 2.34 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 3.48 percent, LG Electronics slumped 2.39 percent, SK Hynix sank 0.74 percent, Naver advanced 0.98 percent, LG Chem plunged 6.89 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 7.06 percent, SK Innovation crashed 3.20 percent, POSCO surrendered 4.40 percent, SK Telecom eased 0.16 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.44 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 2.44 percent, Hyundai Motor dipped 0.23 percent and Kia Motors tumbled 2.21 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages returned from Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday by opening in the green on Friday and continuing to pick up steam as the shortened session progressed, ending near the day's highs.

The Dow jumped 188.59 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 44,910.65, while the NASDAQ rallied 157.69 points or 0.83 percent to close at 19,218.17 and the S&P 500 gained 33.64 points or 0.56 percent to end at 6,032.38.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.1 percent, while the narrower Dow surged 1.4 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following pullback seen on Wednesday.

Semiconductor stocks led the rebound, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index climbing by 1.5 percent after hitting its lowest intraday level in over two months in the previous session.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday after OPEC postponed its meeting to Dec. 5, despite expectations the group will delay production increases. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January shed $0.72 or 1.1 percent at $68.00 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 4.5 percent in the week.