South Korea Bourse Overdue For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in five straight sessions, accelerating almost 130 points or 4.3 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 3,020-point plateau for the first time in three and a half years, although investors figure to lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative thanks to U.S. involvement in the Israel/Iran conflict. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but the Asian markets figure to open under water.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks, steel companies and automobile producers.

For the day, the index jumped 44.10 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 3,021.84 after trading between 2,972.37 and 3,022.06. Volume was 469.7 million shares worth 17.6 trillion won. There were 488 gainers and 388 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dipped 0.17 percent, while KB Financial eased 0.19 percent, Hana Financial collected 1.65 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.51 percent, Samsung SDI spiked 4.82 percent, LG Electronics strengthened 1.23 percent, SK Hynix soared 4.47 percent, Naver surged 6.94 percent, LG Chem rallied 2.67 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.32 percent, SK Innovation improved 1.59 percent, POSCO Holdings advanced 0.96 percent, SK Telecom jumped 1.81 percent, KEPCO accelerated 2.83 percent, Hyundai Mobis shed 0.51 percent, Hyundai Motor increased 1.45 percent and Kia Motors added 0.51 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains murky as the major averages opened higher on but quickly fell under water, finally finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 35.16 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 42,206.82, while the NASDAQ dropped 98.86 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19,447.41 and the S&P 500 sank 13.03 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,967.84.

The positive boost to kick off trade on Wall Street came after the White House said President Donald Trump sees a "substantial chance of negotiations" and would decide within two weeks whether to authorize a direct U.S. military strike on Iran.

Of course, on Saturday the United States bombed three sites in Iran that are suspected nuclear development areas. The fallout from those attacks remains uncertain.

On the economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said on Friday that regional manufacturing activity remained weak in June. The Philly Fed said its diffusion index for current general activity was unchanged in June after jumping to a negative 4.0 in May, with a negative reading indicating contraction. Economists had expected the index to rise to a negative 1.0.

Crude oil price slipped on Friday as concerns of U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict faded, even as the fighting between the two nations intensified. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery closed down by $0.21 to $74.93 per barrel.