Little Movement Seen For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 25 points or 1 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,490-point plateau and it figures to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

There's not much of a global forecast, as most of the markets in Europe and the United States were closed on Friday for Good Friday. Key U.S. employment data was roughly in line with expectations, suggesting a steady if quiet session.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financials and technology stocks, while the oil and chemical companies were mixed and the automobile producers were soft.

For the day, the index improved 31.18 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 2,490.41 after trading between 2,473.89 and 2,493.06. Volume was 578.3 million shares worth 11.1 trillion won. There were 433 gainers and 419 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial jumped 1.75 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.75 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.12 percent, Samsung Electronics soared 4.33 percent, Samsung SDI dropped 0.94 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.35 percent, SK Hynix skyrocketed 6.32 percent, Naver gained 0.78 percent, LG Chem dipped 0.28 percent, Lotte Chemical perked 0.22 percent, S-Oil skidded 1.00 percent, SK Innovation surged 4.14 percent, POSCO spiked 1.93 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.52 percent, KEPCO fell 0.28 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.16 percent, Kia Motors retreated 1.11 percent and Hyundai Motor was unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the stock and oil markets were closed for Good Friday. The big catalyst for the day, however, was the closely watched U.S. jobs report for March.

The Labor Department said that employment in the U.S. increased roughly in line with forecasts in March as non-farm payroll employment climbed by 236,000 jobs after jumping by an upwardly revised 326,000 jobs in February.

Economists had expected employment to rise by about 240,000 jobs compared to the addition of 311,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Also, the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in March from 3.6 percent in February; the unemployment rate was expected to be unchanged.

The numbers fall in the butter zone, which is to say good enough to dispel fears of an economic slowdown but not so good as the encourage the Federal Reserve to feel comfortable applying another rate hike anytime soon.