Little Movement Seen For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 50 points or 2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,565-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed amid a lack of catalysts, with optimism over the outlook for interest rates preventing any heavy selling. The European and U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index added 19.38 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 2,563.56 after trading between 2,555.30 and 2,574.23. Volume was 458.2 million shares worth 12.7 trillion won. There were 498 gainers and 378 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 2.64 percent, while KB Financial jumped 2.50 percent, Hana Financial improved 2.63 percent, Samsung Electronics perked 0.27 percent, Samsung SDI advanced 0.89 percent, LG Electronics gathered 0.41 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.41 percent, Naver strengthened 1.35 percent, LG Chem surged 6.25 percent, Lotte Chemical sank 0.62 percent, S-Oil climbed 1.34 percent, SK Innovation increased 0.73 percent, POSCO rallied 4.12 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.40 percent, KEPCO rose 0.26 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 1.58 percent, Hyundai Motor soared 4.33 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 2.41 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and finished the same way, little changed.

The Dow added 56.76 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 37,305.16, while the NASDAQ gained 52.32 points or 0.35 percent to close at 14,813.92 and the S&P 500 eased 0.36 points or 0.01 percent to end at 4,719.19.

The major averages all closed higher for the seventh consecutive week. The Dow and the NASDAQ both surged by 2.9 percent, while the S&P 500 jumped by 2.5 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a breather following the recent upward move by the markets, although optimism about the outlook for interest rates continued to support the markets.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve released a report showing a modest rebound in U.S. industrial production in November.

Oil futures posted their first weekly gain in two months despite settling on a slightly weak note on Friday. An upward revision in oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency and a weak dollar pushed up crude oil prices over the past few sessions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January eased $0.15 at $71.43 a barrel on Friday but added 0.2% for the week.