KOSPI In Line For Bargain Hunting On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished sharply lower in two straight sessions, crashing more than 620 points or 11 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 5,060-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, although they're likely to see bargain hunting after heavy losses last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed to higher and the oversold Asian markets are likely to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially among the technology, semiconductor, finance and manufacturing sectors.

For the day, the index plummeted 324.11 points or 6.02 percent to finish at 5,059.69 after trading between 4,911.28 and 5,269.10. Volume was 297 million shares worth 27.5 trillion won. There were 757 decliners and 131 gainers.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed with a touch of upside as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ opened higher on Friday and remained in the green throughout the day, while the Dow opened lower, peeked above the line for a bit but then faded to finish with in the red.

The Dow slumped 237.37 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 51,285.73, while the NASDAQ jumped 264.42 points or 1.09 percent to close at 24,579.42 and the S&P 500 added 23.13 points or 0.31 percent to end at 7,376.86. For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 3.4 percent, the S&P 500 sank 2.7 percent and the Dow slid by 0.9 percent.

The rebound on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting following Thursday's substantial pullback, which dragged the tech-heavy NASDAQ down to its lowest closing level in over six months.

Semiconductor stocks led the way higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index spiking 4.2 percent, while strength was also seen among networking, gold, airline and oil stocks.

In U.S. economic news, a closely watched report from the Labor Department showed employment in the U.S. increased far more than expected in October, which adds to the case for a rate hike in the Federal Reserve's December meeting.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday on continued signals of war risk after U.S. President Donald Trump refused to rule out renewing attacks on Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.46 or 0.51 percent at $90.98 per barrel.