South Korea Stock Market May Hand Back Thursday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday ended the five-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 75 points or 3.2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,355-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on continuing concerns over the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the oil, chemical, technology and industrial companies.

For the day, the index climbed 27.78 points or 1.19 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,356.73 after trading as low as 2,335.75. Volume was 415.98 million shares worth 5.96 trillion won. There were 655 with gainers and 210 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dipped 0.13 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.57 percent, Samsung Electronics increased 1.90 percent, Samsung SDI added 0.47 percent, LG Electronics skyrocketed 5.12 percent, SK Hynix climbed 1.54 percent, Naver soared 2.50 percent, LG Chem gained 0.97 percent, Lotte Chemical surged 4.53 percent, S-Oil advanced 0.92 percent, SK Innovation strengthened 1.21 percent, POSCO improved 0.70 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.31 percent, KEPCO shed 0.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis spiked 2.46 percent, Hyundai Motor jumped 1.60 percent, Kia Motors rallied 2.42 percent and Hana Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened deep in the red and the losses accelerated as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 348.99 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,037.49, while the NASDAQ plunged 233.25 points or 2.18 percent to close at 10,476.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 56.05 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,822.39.

The pullback on Wall Street came as some traders cashed in on Wednesday's gains amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates and the global economy.

Stocks saw further downside following the release of a report from the Conference Board showing a continued slump by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators in the month of November.

Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day winning streak as the dollar advanced on rate hike bets. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended $0.80 lower at $77.49 a barrel, falling from a high of $79.90 a barrel.