South Korea Shares May Crack Resistance At 2,500 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after snapping the four-day winning streak in which it had soared almost 100 points or 4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,480-point plateau and it's got another green light for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets remains upbeat on optimism for the outlook of interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharpy higher on Friday following huge gains from the technology stocks and more measured upside from the oil and industrial companies.

For the day, the index spiked 80.93 points or 3.37 percent to finish at 2,483.16 after trading between 2,463.51 and 2,486.46. Volume was 748 million shares worth 13.7 trillion won. There were 785 gainers and 108 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dropped 0.93 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.61 percent, Hana Financial and Kia Motors both rallied 2.10 percent, Samsung Electronics spiked 4.14 percent, LG Electronics improved 2.83 percent, SK Hynix accelerated 4.94 percent, Naver skyrocketed 9.94 percent, LG Chem surged 6.04 percent, Lotte Chemical skidded 1.13 percent, S-Oil added 0.67 percent, SK Innovation gained 0.83 percent, POSCO perked 1.60 percent, SK Telecom was up 0.20 percent, KEPCO advanced 4.68 percent, Hyundai Mobis fell 0.45 percent and Hyundai Motor gained 1.47 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened mixed on Friday, with the Dow spending most of the session in negative territory before breaking into the green late in the day.

The Dow rose 32.49 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,747.86, while the NASDAQ surged 209.18 points or 1.88 percent to close at 11,323.33 and the S&P 500 advanced 36.56 points or 0.92 percent to end at 3,992.93.

For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 8.1 percent, the S&P 500 soared 5.9 percent and the Dow jumped 4.2 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came as stocks continued to benefit from optimism about the Federal Reserve slowing the pace of interest rate hikes following Thursday's tamer than expected inflation data.

On the heels of the inflation data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 80.6 percent chance the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points next month compared to the recent 75 basis point rate hikes.

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday, supported by a weak dollar and reports about China cutting quarantine restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $2.49 or 2.9 percent at $88.96 a barrel.