KOSPI Due For Profit Taking On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, advancing more than 55 points or 2 percent in that span. The KOSPI now rests just shy of the 2,760-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft amid mixed cues for interest rates. The European markets were sharply lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial companies.

For the day, the index rose 3.53 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 2,758.42 after trading between 2,750.86 and 2,769.16. Volume was 633.1 million shares worth 15.7 trillion won. There were 481 decliners and 399 gainers.

Among the actives, KB Financial eased 0.12 percent, while Hana Financial retreated 1.68 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 1.27 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 2.04 percent, LG Electronics perked 0.20 percent, SK Hynix lost 0.45 percent, LG Chem declined 1.63 percent, Lotte Chemical improved 1.24 percent, S-Oil spiked 1.80 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 6.47 percent, POSCO jumped 1.33 percent, SK Telecom slid 0.39 percent, KEPCO added 0.41 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 7.45 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.37 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 0.82 percent and Shinhan Financial and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but rallied to finish mixed and flat.

The Dow dropped 57.94 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 38,589.16, while the NASDAQ rose 21.32 points or 0.12 percent to close at a record 17,688.88 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.14 points or 0.04 percent to end at 5,431.60.

For the week, the NASDAQ surged 3.2 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.6 percent and the Dow fell 0.5 percent.

Traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets early in the session, but selling pressure became subdued after the Labor Department noted unexpected decreases by U.S. import and export prices in May.

While Federal Reserve officials forecast just one rate cut this year following this week's monetary policy meeting, traders are hopeful the predictions will turn out to be overly conservative if inflation continues to slow in the coming months.

Oil futures snapped a four-day winning streak and settled lower on Friday after data showed a jump in U.S. crude inventories, while a stronger greenback weighed as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July fell $0.17 or about 0.22 percent at $78.45 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained nearly 4 percent in the week.