Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after halting the three-day winning streak in which it had risen just 8 points or 0.3 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,740-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 35.03 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 2,742.00. Volume was 468.06 million shares worth 11.64 trillion won. There were 465 decliners and 416 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.41 percent, while KB Financial and Samsung SDI both accelerated 3.27 percent, Hana Financial surged 4.86 percent, Samsung Electronics strengthened 1.43 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.43 percent, SK Hynix soared 4.91 percent, Naver added 0.47 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.85 percent, Lotte Chemical shed 0.57 percent, S-Oil lost 0.62 percent, SK Innovation improved 0.73 percent, POSCO gained 0.75 percent, SK Telecom spiked 2.55 percent, KEPCO increased 1.87 percent, Hyundai Mobis climbed 1.46 percent, Hyundai Motor skyrocketed 4.63 percent and Kia Motors advanced 4.81 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day in positive territory before a late plunge sent them deep into the red.

The Dow plummeted 530.16 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 38,596.98, while the NASDAQ tumbled 228.38 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,049.08 and the S&P 500 sank 64.28 points or 1.23 percent to end at 5,147.21.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street came amid a continued surge by the price of crude oil, which advanced for the fifth straight session and reached its highest levels since last October - raising concerns higher that energy prices will keep inflation elevated and convince the Federal Reserve to hold off on lowering interest rates.

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending recent gains amid concerns about supply disruptions due to geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.16 or 1.4 percent at $86.59 a barrel, gaining for a fifth straight session.

Earlier in the session, stocks benefited from a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected last week.

The advance by jobless claims generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates, although the likelihood of a rate cut in June remains uncertain.

Closer to home, South Korea will release February data for its current account later this morning; in January, the current account surplus was $3.05 billion.