South Korea Shares Tipped To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, jumping more than 80 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,490-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with growth concerns warring with interest rate optimism. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourse figure to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished barely higher on Thursday following gains from the auto makers, weakness from the energy companies and a mixed bag from the financial and technology stocks.

For the day, the index perked 1.51 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 2,488.18 after trading between 2,472.69 and 2,491.98. Volume was 401.6 million shares worth 6.61 trillion won. There were 546 gainers and 311 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial perked 0.14 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.55 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.24 percent, Samsung Electronics improved 0.83 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 1.45 percent, LG Electronics spiked 1.59 percent, SK Hynix slumped 1.34 percent, Naver stumbled 1.22 percent, Lotte Chemical declined 1.49 percent, S-Oil lost 0.58 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.64 percent, POSCO retreated 1.48 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.39 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.97 percent, Hyundai Mobis climbed 1.10 percent, Hyundai Motor rallied 1.26 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 3.68 percent and LG Chem was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent most of the day in the red before finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow dipped 45.74 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 34,945.47, while the NASDAQ rose 9.84 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,113.67 and the S&P 500 perked 5.36 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,508.24.

A steep drop by shares of Walmart (WMT) and Cisco Systems (CSCO) weighed on the Dow, while upticks by the NASDAQ and S&P came as the latest U.S. economic data added to recent optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

The Labor Department released a report showing U.S. import and export prices both fell by more than expected in the month of October, capping off an encouraging week of inflation data.

A separate Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims climbed by much more than expected last week, while the Federal Reserve said industrial production fell more than expected in October.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on fears of a likely drop in energy demand after soft data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December tumbled $3.76 or 4.9 percent at $72.90 a barrel.