South Korea Bourse May Challenge 3,200-Point Mark

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just shy of the 3,170-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the technology and industrial stocks, while the financials and chemicals were soft.

For the day, the index improved 26.99 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 3,168.73. Volume was 233.9 million shares worth 8.21 trillion won. There were 461 gainers and 410 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.45 percent, while KB Financial skidded 1.19 percent, Hana Financial sank 0.72 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.13 percent, Samsung SDI dropped 0.89 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.66 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.45 percent, Naver fell 0.45 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.92 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 5.86 percent, SK Innovation slumped 0.76 percent, POSCO Holdings declined 0.83 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.91 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor was down 0.35 percent, Kia Motors improved 0.87 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and continued to trend upward as the day continued, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 846.24 points or 1.89 percent to finish at 45,631.74, while the NASDAQ rallied 396.23 points or 1.88 percent to end at 21,496.54 and the S&P 500 jumped 96.74 points or 1.52 percent to close at 6,466.91.

For the week, the Dow spiked1.5 percent, the NASDAQ slipped 0.6 percent and the S&P rose 0.3 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came in reaction to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech before the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium.

While Powell touched only briefly on the outlook for monetary policy, his remarks have increased investor confidence that the Fed will lower interest rates next month.

Following Powell's remarks, CME Group's FedWatch Tool jumped to indicate an 83.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month, up from 75.0 percent a day earlier.

Crude oil prices rose modestly on Friday as expectations of a Russia-Ukraine peace deal waned with no progress. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $0.13 pr 0.20 percent at $63.65 per barrel.