More Pain Predicted For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 40 points or 1.8 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,360-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates and a global recession. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished barely lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financials, technology stocks and chemical companies.

For the day, the index eased 0.95 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 2,360.02 after trading between 2,326.83 and 2,360.44. Volume was 404.6 million shares worth 7.03 trillion won. There were 605 decliners and 261 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.66 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.58 percent, Hana Financial gained 0.45 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.34 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.30 percent, LG Electronics slumped 1.69 percent, SK Hynix tanked 2.24 percent, Naver weakened 1.10 percent, LG Chem and Hyundai Motor both rose 0.31 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 1.77 percent, S-Oil perked 0.23 percent, SK Innovation climbed 1.19 percent, POSCO retreated 1.59 percent, SK Telecom skidded 1.01 percent, KEPCO surged 3.84 percent, Hyundai Mobis was up 0.24 percent and Kia Motors was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 281.74 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 32,920.46, while the NASDAQ dropped 105.09 points or 0.97 percent to close at 10,705.41 and the S&P 500 sank 43.39 points or 1.11 percent to end at 3,852.36.

For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.7 percent, the S&P declined 2.1 percent and the Dow retreated 1.7 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the economy. The Fed's hawkish tone in its latest monetary policy announcement has added to worries about the central bank's aggressive rate hikes tipping the economy into a recession.

While inflation has recently shown signs of slowing, the Fed signaled it plans to continue raising interest rates next year.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand due to a global economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down by $1.82 or 2.4 percent at $74.29 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.4 percent in the week.