KOSPI Likely To See Profit Taking On Friday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in six straight sessions, rallying more than 800 points or 13.7 percent on its way to a fresh record closing high. The KOSPI now sits just above the 6,300-point plateau and it's overdue for consolidation on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher again on Thursday following gains from the technology stocks and automobile producers, while the financials and chemicals were mixed.

For the day, the index skyrocketed 223.41 points or 3.67 percent to finish at 6,307.27 after trading between 6,107.41 and 6,313.27. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 38.5 trillion won. There were 659 decliners and 239 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.40 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.43 percent, Hana Financial sank 0.87 percent, Samsung Electronics soared 7.13 percent, Samsung SDI vaulted 3.70 percent, LG Electronics skyrocketed 10.05 percent, SK Hynix surged 7.96 percent, Naver expanded 2.96 percent, LG Chem added 0.65 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.33 percent, SK Innovation dropped 0.91 percent, POSCO Holdings rose 0.25 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.60 percent, KEPCO tumbled 1.56 percent, Hyundai Mobis rallied 12.67 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 6.47 percent and Kia Motors was up 5.05 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but trended lower throughout the day, finally ending on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow perked 17.05 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 49,499.20, while the NASDAQ tumbled 273.70 points or 1.18 percent to end at 22,878.38 and the S&P 500 lost 37.27 points or 0.54 percent to close at 6,908.86.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), even though the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Networking stocks also showed a notable move to the downside, contributing to the slump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices saw early strength Thursday on Mideast tensions but couldn't hold the gains after progress was reported in talks between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down by $0.11 or 0.2 percent at $65.31 barrel.