South Korea Shares Expected To Head South On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped more than 45 points or 2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,210-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on rising fears of recession and higher 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 sharply higher on Friday with gains across the board, especially among the financials, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index spiked 49.68 points or 2.30 percent to finish at 2,212.55 after trading between 2,193.63 and 2,220.54. Volume was 501 million shares worth 7.01 trillion won. There were 848 gainers and 61 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.29 percent, while KB Financial soared 4.59 percent, Hana Financial collected 2.53 percent, Samsung Electronics jumped 1.99 percent, LG Electronics increased 2.22 percent, SK Hynix added 0.63 percent, Naver surged 4.42 percent, LG Chem fell 0.35 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 3.22 percent, S-Oil climbed 4.02 percent, SK Innovation gathered 3.63 percent, POSCO spiked 3.58 percent, SK Telecom improved 2.37 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.87 percent, Hyundai Mobis dipped 0.26 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.52 percent and Kia Motors climbed 1.02 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened higher on Friday but quickly nosedived into the red and finished with deep losses.

The Dow tumbled 403.87 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 29,634.83, while the NASDAQ plunged 327.81 points or 3.08 percent to close at 10,321.39 and the S&P 500 sank 86.84 points or 2.37 percent to end at 3,583.07.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.5 percent.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street extended the volatility on Thursday, when stocks recovered from an early sell-off to close sharply higher. But renewed selling pressure was generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing a rebound in inflation expectations in October.

Traders also reacted to earnings news from several big-name financial companies as JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) reported better than expected revenues, while Morgan Stanley (MS) missed estimates.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Friday, weighed down by concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid the rising possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $3.50 or 3.9 percent at $85.61 a barrel.