South Korea Shares Due For Profit Taking

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, accelerating nearly 190 points or 5.3 percent in that span. Now at a fresh record closing high, the KOPSI sits just above the 3,610-point plateau although investors figure to lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is bleak on concerns of an escalation in the trade war between U.S. and China. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks, weakness from the chemicals and industrials and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index rallied 61.39 points or 1.73 percent to finish at 3,610.60 after trading between 3,569.44 and 3,617.86. Volume was 401.5 million shares worth 19.2 trillion won. There were 621 decliners and 275 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.84 percent, while KB Financial stumbled 3.42 percent, Hana Financial tanked 2.71 percent, Samsung Electronics soared 6.07 percent, Samsung SDI rose 0.24 percent, LG Electronics accelerated 3.40 percent, SK Hynix surged 8.22 percent, Naver spiked 5.73 percent, LG Chem shed 0.49 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 2.68 percent, SK Innovation retreated 2.02 percent, POSCO Holdings surrendered 3.66 percent, SK Telecom added 0.37 percent, KEPCO improved 0.70 percent, Hyundai Mobis gained 0.34 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 1.36 percent and Kia Motors plunged 3.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened roughly flat on Friday put plummeted in the late morning and finished deep in the red at session lows.

The Dow plunged 878.82 points or 1.90 percent to finish at 45,479.60, while the NASDAQ crashed 820.20 points or 3.56 percent to close at 22,204.43 and the S&P 500 stumbled 182.60 points or 2.71 percent to end at 6,552.51.

For the week, the Dow dove 2.7 percent, the NASDAQ slumped 2.5 percent and the S&P sank 2.4 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump threatened to retaliate against China's expansion of export controls on rare earths. Trump accused China of "becoming very hostile" in a post on social media platform Truth Social and threatened a "massive increase" in tariffs on Chinese products coming into the U.S.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the University of Michigan said its reading on U.S. consumer sentiment was unchanged in October, while year-ahead inflation expectations ebbed to 4.6 percent from 4.7 percent in September.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday after Trump threatened to massively increases tariffs on China in retaliation for its expansion of export controls on rare earths. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $2.69 or 4.37 percent at $58.82 per barrel.