South Korea Shares Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 40 points or 1.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,540-point plateau and it's likely to see additional support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index jumped 33.52 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 2,544.18 after trading between 2,532.16 and 2,549.65. Volume was 522.5 million shares worth 12.78 trillion won. There were 463 gainers and 418 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.29 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.79 percent, Hana Financial gained 0.48 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.41 percent, Samsung SDI accelerated 4.42 percent, LG Electronics picked up 1.04 percent, SK Hynix soared 4.19 percent, Naver surged 4.45 percent, LG Chem advanced 0.87 percent, Lotte Chemical climbed 1.44 percent, S-Oil improved 0.75 percent, SK Innovation skyrocketed 4.96 percent, POSCO jumped 1.77 percent, SK Telecom strengthened 1.40 percent, KEPCO rose 0.47 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 2.64 percent, Hyundai Motor eased 0.11 percent and Kia Motors fell 0.23 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, slumped midday but rebounded again to end in the green.

The Dow climbed 158.11 points or 0.43 percent to finish at a fresh record closing high of 37,248.35, while the NASDAQ gained 27.59 points or 0.19 percent to close at 14,761.56 and the S&P 500 rose 12.46 points or 0.26 percent to end at 4,719.55.

Stocks continued to benefit from the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed left interest rates unchanged, as widely expected, and signaled plans to cut interest rates three times next year.

Adding to optimism the economy is headed toward a soft landing, the Commerce Department released a report showing an unexpected increase in U.S. retail sales in November. Also, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week.

Oil prices surged on Thursday for the second straight day, lifted by a weak dollar and an upward revision in global oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency. West Texas International Crude oil futures for January spiked $2.11 or 3 percent at $71.58 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. In October, imports were down 11.6 percent on year and exports rose an annual 7.8 percent for a trade surplus of $3.80 billion.