KOSPI May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 45 points or 1.1 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 4,170-point plateau although it may turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.

For the day, the index jumped 56.54 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 4,167.16 after trading between 4,120.73 and 4,168.17. Volume was 421 million shares worth 16.3 trillion won. There were 655 gainers and 221 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.78 percent, while KB Financial improved 1.04 percent, Hana Financial vaulted 1.20 percent, Samsung Electronics strengthened 1.49 percent, LG Electronics jumped 1.80 percent, SK Hynix climbed 1.06 percent, Naver added 0.41 percent, LG Chem expanded 1.64 percent, Lotte Chemical rallied 2.76 percent, SK Innovation increased 1.42 percent, POSCO Holdings soared 3.73 percent, SK Telecom advanced 1.12 percent, KEPCO gained 1.95 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 4.72 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.03 percent, Kia Motors spiked 2.36 percent and Samsung SDI was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session underwater.

The Dow dropped 245.96 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 48,458.05, while the NASDAQ tumbled 398.69 points or 1.69 percent to close at 23,195.17 and the S&P 500 sank 73.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 6,827.41.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.6 percent and the NASDAQ dove 1.6 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street was fueled by losses on the NASDAQ, which saw heavy selling among the technology stocks on renewed concerns over valuations.

Weak sentiment was also generated by comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who explained his decision to vote against cutting interest rates at last week's Fed meeting saying that more inflation data should have been necessary.

Crude oil prices weakened on Friday as traders kept an eye on the latest developments in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell $0.20 or 0.4 percent at $57.40 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see November figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In October, imports were up 1.2 percent on year and exports rose an annual 8.4 percent for a trade surplus of $9.74 billion.