South Korea Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market turned lower again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had slumped more than 25 points or 1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,560-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed as countries weigh the results of the U.S. elections. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index slipped 3.48 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 2,571.15 after trading between 2,553.42 and 2,593.15. Volume was 440.7 million shares worth 9.63 trillion won. There were 469 decliners and 388 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.35 percent, while KB Financial slumped 0.96 percent, Samsung Electronics dropped 0.87 percent, Samsung SDI retreated 1.22 percent, LG Electronics shed 0.44 percent, SK Hynix rallied 1.57 percent, Naver tanked 2.84 percent, LG Chem slid 0.33 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 9.66 percent, SK Innovation soared 2.87 percent, POSCO surrendered 2.44 percent, SK Telecom stumbled 2.25 percent, KEPCO plunged 2.63 percent, Hyundai Mobis jumped 2.09 percent, Hyundai Motor tumbled 1.93 percent, Kia Motors declined 1.06 percent and Hana Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and all finished with modest gains to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow jumped 259.65 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 43,988.99, while the NASDAQ rose 17.32 points or 0.09 percent to close at 19,286.78 and the S&P 500 added 22.44 points or 0.38 percent to end at 5,995.54.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ soared 5.7 percent, while the S&P 500 spiked 4.7 percent and the Dow rallied 4.6 percent.

Stocks continued to benefit from a positive reaction to former President Donald Trump's decisive victory in the U.S. presidential election, which is expected to be positive for corporations.

Traders also continued to digest the Federal Reserve's widely expected decision on Thursday to lower interest rates by a quarter-point. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed that rates are not on any preset course and the central bank will make future decisions meeting by meeting.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand due to data showing a drop in China's oil imports, and disappointment over the size of China's fresh stimulus measures. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.98 or 2.7 percent at $70.38 a barrel; the contract gained 1 percent in the week.