KOSPI May Bounce Higher Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had plummeted almost 600 points or 11 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 5,240-point plateau and it's likely to see at least a technical rebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on conflicting messages about the status of the war in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial, technology, chemical and automobile sectors.

For the day, the index plummeted 244.65 points or 4.47 percent to finish at 5,234.05 after trading between 5,170.27 and 5,574.62. Volume was 1.42 billion shares worth 32.95 trillion won. There were 814 decliners and 90 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.71 percent, while KB Financial dropped 1.21 percent, Hana Financial stumbled 2.13 percent, Samsung Electronics plunged 5.91 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 2.55 percent, LG Electronics surrendered 3.29 percent, SK Hynix cratered 7.05 percent, Naver plummeted 6.76 percent, LG Chem declined 3.36 percent, Lotte Chemical contracted 3.78 percent, SK Innovation advanced 0.87 percent, POSCO Holdings sank 1.45 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.89 percent, KEPCO lost 5.61 percent, Hyundai Mobis shed 4.77 percent, Hyundai Motor crashed 4.61 percent and Kia Motors tumbled 3.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is flat to higher as the major averages opened lower on Thursday but quickly bounced higher and hugged the line for most of the day, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow slipped 61.07 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 46,504.67, while the NASDAQ added 38.23 points or 0.18 percent to end at 21,879.18 and the S&P 500 rose 7.37 points or 0.11 percent to close at 6,582.69.

For the holiday-shortened week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 surged 3.4 percent and the Dow jumped 3 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street came amid renewed concerns about an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East following President Donald Trump's primetime address Wednesday night.

However, stocks bounced well off their worst levels after a report from Iranian state news said Iran and Oman are drafting a protocol to "monitor transit" through the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices catapulted Thursday on concerns of supply disruptions following Trump's address. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up $11.94 or 11.93 percent at $112.06 per barrel.