KOSPI May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 85 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 5,290-point plateau and it may remain stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and mostly flat, with a slight downward bias among the technology stocks.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses among the technology, mineral and semiconductor companies, while the finance and energy sectors offered support.

For the day, the index dropped 52.20 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 5,290.53 after trading between 5,259.09 and 5,504.44. Volume was 237.3 million shares worth 16 trillion won. There were 450 gainers and 418 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower before staging a midday recovery to finish on oppositive sides of the line.

The Dow added 50.45 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 52,347.55, while the NASDAQ slumped 229.83 points or 0.91 percent to end at 25,136.27 and the S&P 500 sank 30.73 points or 0.40 percent to close at 7,561.67.

For the week, the S&P surged 2.5 percent, the NASDAQ spiked 2.3 percent and the Dow jumped 2.1 percent.

Weakness among technology stocks once again weighed on Wall Street, as reflected by the notable decline by the tech-heavy NASDAQ. Shares of Nvidia (NVDA) showed another significant move to the downside following the resignation of Jensen Huang.

The weakness on Wall Street also came as treasury yields extended a recent surge following the release of the Labor Department's report on producer price inflation in October - which saw the fastest pace of growth since November 2022.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Friday, with the renewal of U.S.-Iran re-escalation concerns offset by the International Energy Agency's forecast of a global crude surplus. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.08 or 0.09 percent at $88.66 per barrel.