Rebound Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after snapping the seven-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 220 points or 8.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,440-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support expected from the technology stocks and weakness from oil companies amid recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit on Monday.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the automobile producers, financials and technology stocks.

For the day, the index slumped 10.48 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 2,440.93 after trading between 2,396.47 and 2,441.34. Volume was 597.98 million shares worth 10.66 trillion won. There were 562 gainers and 305 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial retreated 1.23 percent, while KB Financial declined 1.33 percent, Hana Financial plunged 3.07 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 1.81 percent, Samsung SDI improved 1.28 percent, LG Electronics sank 1.27 percent, SK Hynix dropped 1.03 percent, Naver lost 1.04 percent, LG Chem skidded 1.03 percent, Lotte Chemical surrendered 2.29 percent, S-Oil advanced 0.87 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 5.13 percent, POSCO tanked 3.07 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.96 percent, KEPCO shed 0.44 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 1.73 percent and Kia Motors stumbled 1.42 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains.

The Dow shed 38.29 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29,888.78, while the NASDAQ surged 152.25 points or 1.43 percent to end at 10,798.35 and the S&P 500 rose 8.07 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,674.84. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 3.8 percent and the S&P tumbled 5.8 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came amid a quadruple witching day, which refers to the expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

Traders may also have been expressing some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday's sell-off, which reflected concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased less than expected in May, while the Conference Board showed a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators last month.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on mounting fears about a possible global economic recession following severe tightening of policies by several central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $8.03 or 6.8 percent at $109.56 a barrel.