South Korea Shares May Halt Losing Streak On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 375 points or 5.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 6,625-point plateau although it's likely to stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over upcoming earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were up on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses among the finance, industrial, technology, retail and utility companies.

For the day, the index plunged 177.97 points or 2.62 percent to finish at 6,625.93.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened in the green on Friday and continued to trend positively throughout the session, ending near daily highs.

The Dow jumped 423.35 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 51,654.95, while the NASDAQ added 172.87 points or 0.64 percent to end at 27,366.17 and the S&P 500 gained 46.18 points or 0.59 percent to close at 7,811.54. For the week, the S&P rallied 1.2 percent, the Dow collected 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.6 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders remained optimistic about the outlook for the artificial intelligence trade even after reports that OpenAI's annualized revenue missed estimates.

Strong corporate earnings expectations also have contributed to the renewed buying interest ahead of the release of key earnings news this week from the likes of financial giants Citigroup (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and Bank of America (BAC).

This week will also see the release of reports on consumer and producer price inflation that could impact expectations for the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

Crude oil prices showed a lack of direction on Friday as traders await more concrete developments regarding the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.33 or 0.4 percent to $91.82 a barrel.