South Korea Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral On Friday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday ended the four-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 125 points or 4.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,635-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and steel companies.

For the day, the index jumped 50.52 points or 1.95 percent to finish at 2,634.70 after trading between 2,593.26 and 2,642.03. Volume was 466 million shares worth 10.2 trillion won. There were 767 gainers and 125 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 3.33 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.43 percent, Hana Financial strengthened 2.29 percent, Samsung Electronics advanced 0.89 percent, Samsung SDI surged 5.05 percent, LG Electronics accelerated 1.76 percent, SK Hynix jumped 2.01 percent, Naver rose 0.61 percent, LG Chem improved 2.48 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.30 percent, S-Oil perked 0.13 percent, SK Innovation climbed 1.34 percent, POSCO soared 5.12 percent, SK Telecom added 0.80 percent, KEPCO rallied 3.19 percent, Hyundai Mobis was up 0.21 percent, Hyundai Motor eased 0.07 percent and Kia Motors sank 0.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.