South Korea Bourse Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 45 points or 1.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,480-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials, gains from the chemicals and mixed performances from the technology and automobile stocks.

For the day, the index dipped 2.12 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 2,481.52 after trading between 2,466.61 and 2,487.14. Volume was 595.66 million shares worth 8.76 trillion won. There were 508 decliners and 363 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial plummeted 3.73 percent, while KB Financial plunged 2.69 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.15 percent, Samsung Electronics eased 0.16 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.37 percent, SK Hynix shed 0.53 percent, Naver was down 0.22 percent, LG Chem climbed 1.19 percent, Lotte Chemical added 0.58 percent, S-Oil lost 0.59 percent, SK Innovation spiked 2.24 percent, POSCO rallied 2.68 percent, KEPCO shed 0.62 percent, Hyundai Mobis sank 0.48 percent, Hyundai Motor dipped 0.06 percent, Kia Motors rose 0.28 percent and SK Telecom was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages were unable to hold on to early gains on Thursday, sinking into the red by midday and ending at daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 249.13 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 33,699.88, while the NASDAQ slumped 120.94 points or 1.02 percent to close at 11,789.58 and the S&P 500 sank 36.36 points or 0.88 percent to end at 4,081.50.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing interest rate concerns following hawkish comments by some Federal Reserve officials.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by slightly more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures ended lower Thursday as rising crude inventories in the U.S. and prospects of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $78.06 a barrel.