KOSPI May Test Resistance At 2,500 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, collecting almost 115 points or 4.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,485-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of this week's FOMC meeting. The European and U.S. markets saw mild upside and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher again on Friday following gains from the oil companies, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the technology stocks.

For the day, the index gained 15.37 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 2,484.02. Volume was 495.4 million shares worth 8.89 trillion won. There were 571 gainers and 209 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.33 percent, while KB Financial tumbled 2.04 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.45 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.10 percent, LG Electronics perked 0.20 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.87 percent, Naver soared 3.69 percent, Lotte Chemical lost 0.49 percent, S-Oil rallied 3.17 percent, SK Innovation accelerated 3.10 percent, POSCO slumped 0.80 percent, SK Telecom spiked 3.24 percent, KEPCO rose 0.25 percent, Hyundai Mobis plunged 2.28 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.57 percent, Kia Motors sank 0.87 percent and LG Chem was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be positive as the major averages shook off early listlessness to move into the green in afternoon trade.

The Dow added 28.68 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 33,978.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 109.31 points or 0.95 percent to end at 11,621.71 and the S&P 500 rose 10.13 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,070.56.

For the week, the NASDAQ soared 4.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.5 percent and the Dow jumped 1.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week. The Fed is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes to 25 basis points, but traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for further rate hikes.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said personal income increased in line with estimates in December, while personal spending eased in line with expectations. The report also said core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, rose more than expected.

A separate report from the National Association of Realtors showed an unexpected rebound in pending home sales in December, while the University of Michigan upwardly revised its reading on consumer sentiment in January.

Crude oil prices fell Friday amid uncertainty about the outlook for oil demand. Profit taking after recent gains and indications that oil supply from Russia will surge also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March sank $1.33 or 1.6 percent at $79.68 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 2.4 percent in the week.