Additional Support Tipped For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after halting the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 115 points or 2.9 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 4,100-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 71.54 points or 1.78 percent to finish at the daily high of 4,100.05 after trading as low as 4,003.29. Volume was 474.7 million shares worth 16.13 trillion won. There were 597 gainers and 277 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial jumped 1.91 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.48 percent, Hana Financial improved 0.74 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 3.14 percent, Samsung SDI strengthened 1.65 percent, LG Electronics surged 5.17 percent, SK Hynix and SK Telecom both rose 0.37 percent, Naver climbed 1.01 percent, LG Chem vaulted 1.46 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.68 percent, SK Innovation expanded 1.78 percent, POSCO Holdings increased 1.47 percent, KEPCO spiked 3.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis soared 4.32 percent, Hyundai Motor skyrocketed 11.11 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 2.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and bounced up and down all day but always remained in the green.

The Dow added 104.05 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 47,954.99, while the NASDAQ gained 72.99 points or 0.31 percent to close at 23,578.13 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,870.40.

For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.9 percent, the Dow climbed 0.5 percent and the S&P rose 0.3 percent.

The modest strength on Wall Street followed the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that was in line with estimates, reinforcing recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating an 87.2 percent chance the Fed will lower interest rates by another quarter point this week.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday on persistent geopolitical tension due to the Russia-Ukraine war and the U.S.-Venezuela standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.35 or 0.59 percent at $60.02 per barrel.