South Korea Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, collecting more than 60 points or 2.5 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,535-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst debt ceiling negotiations in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the chemical and industrial companies.

For the day, the index advanced 22.39 points or 0.89 percent to finish at 2,537.79. Volume was 563.11 million shares worth 9.09 trillion won. There were 544 gainers and 334 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial advanced 0.86 percent, while Hana Financial collected 0.60 percent, Samsung Electronics soared 3.32 percent, Samsung SDI improved 0.87 percent, LG Electronics gained 0.35 percent, SK Hynix surged 3.95 percent, Naver jumped 1.88 percent, LG Chem declined 1.55 percent, Lotte Chemical retreated 1.23 percent, S-Oil increased 0.40 percent, SK Innovation plunged 2.63 percent, POSCO tanked 2.28 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.20 percent, KEPCO climbed 1.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis dropped 1.09 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.48 percent, Kia Motors stumbled 1.33 percent and KB Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is slightly soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday but had slipped into the shortly thereafter and finished the same way.

The Dow dropped 109.27 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 33,426.63, while the NASDAQ sank 30.90 points or 0.24 percent to close at 12,657.90 and the S&P 500 fell 6.07 points or 0.14 percent to end at 4,191.98. For the week, the NASDAQ surged 3.0 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.7 percent and the Dow rose 0.4 percent.

The downturn on Wall Street came as Republican negotiators walked out of a meeting over raising the U.S. debt ceiling, offsetting recent optimism about an impending deal.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders still expect lawmakers to eventually reach a debt ceiling deal.

Comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforcing expectations the central bank will leave interest rates unchanged next month also helped limit the downside.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Friday, weighed down by the ambiguity regarding the U.S. debt ceiling talks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June slipped $0.31 or 0.4 percent to $71.55 a barrel; WTI crude futures gained 2.2 percent in the week.