South Korea Shares Likely To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,525-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares expected to lead the markets lower. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, steelmakers and technology stocks, while the chemical and automobile companies were mixed.

For the day, the index climbed 30.68 points or 1.23 percent to finish at 2,527.49 after trading between 2,519.86 and 2,534.01. Volume was 436.3 million shares worth 9.02 trillion won. There were 596 gainers and 281 decliners.

Among the actives, KB Financial collected 0.56 percent, while Hana Financial added 0.52 percent, Samsung Electronics improved 1.12 percent, Samsung SDI strengthened 1.30 percent, LG Electronics advanced 0.95 percent, SK Hynix surged 5.95 percent, LG Chem improved 1.67 percent, Lotte Chemical eased 0.17 percent, SK Innovation spiked 2.00 percent, POSCO Holdings jumped 1.95 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.18 percent, KEPCO sank 0.74 percent, Hyundai Mobis fell 0.39 percent, Hyundai Motor lost 0.68 percent, Kia Motors was up 0.10 percent and Shinhan Financial and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly turned lower, spending most of the day in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow sank 68.42 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 43,153.13, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.95 points or 0.89 percent to close at 19,338.29 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.57 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,937.34.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's rally, which saw the major averages post their largest daily percentage gains in over two months.

Traders were also digesting a slew of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, retail sales and import prices.

The data was largely in line with expectations and maintained optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the first half of this year.

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a ceasefire agreement that was drafted and approved by the UN Security Council. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $1.36 or 1.7 percent at $78.68 a barrel.