KOSPI May Give Up Support At 2,400 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, surrendering almost 40 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,400-point plateau and it's likely to take further damage again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. 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 lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, chemical companies and automobile producers, while the technology shares were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 24.09 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 2,404.77 after trading between 2,411.10 and 2,388.33. Volume was 302 million shares worth 6.19 trillion won. There were 803 decliners and 115 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial slumped 1.12 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.58 percent, Hana Financial weakened 1.20 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.19 percent, LG Electronics retreated 1.40 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.59 percent, Naver dropped 1.10 percent, LG Chem fell 0.40 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.82 percent, SK Innovation stumbled 1.33 percent, POSCO Holdings lost 0.98 percent, SK Telecom slipped 0.71 percent, KEPCO declined 1.96 percent, Hyundai Mobis surrendered 2.27 percent, Hyundai Motor skidded 1.15 percent, Kia Motors tumbled 1.94 percent and Samsung SDI was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with may investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.

Closer to home, South Korea will release November numbers for industrial production and retail sales later this morning. Industrial output is expected to slip 0.4 percent on month and rise 0.4 percent on year following the flat monthly reading and the 6.3 percent jump in October. Retail sales were down 0.4 percent on month in October.