Steady Start Eyed For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 115 points or 2.9 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 4,030-point plateau and it may inch higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst a lack of catalysts, although oil and technology stocks may provide support. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourse were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, support from the automobile producers and a mixed picture from the technology companies.

For the day, the index dipped 7.79 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 4,028.51 after trading between 3,982.54 and 4,028.53. Volume was 348.16 million shares worth 13.57 trillion won. There were 592 decliners and 283 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial stumbled 1.50 percent, while KB Financial tanked 2.20 percent, Hana Financial retreated 1.56 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.57 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.82 percent, LG Electronics soared 5.92 percent, SK Hynix tumbled 1.81 percent, Naver rose 0.20 percent, LG Chem skidded 1.05 percent, Lotte Chemical contracted 1.48 percent, SK Innovation surrendered 2.85 percent, POSCO Holdings shed 0.65 percent, SK Telecom gained 0.56 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.78 percent, Hyundai Mobis skyrocketed 8.76 percent, Hyundai Motor surged 6.38 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 1.41 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but spent the day bouncing back and forth across the changed line, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.96 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 47,850.94, while the NASDAQ added 51.04 points or 0.22 percent to close at 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 rose 7.40 points or 0.11 percent to end at 6,857.12.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following the volatility earlier in the week.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a three-year low last week.

While the data partly offset recent optimism about the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, the central bank is still widely expected to lower rates by another quarter point.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday as expectations of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war dimmed. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.19 percent at $59.65 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see October figures for current account later this morning; in September the current account surplus was $13.47 billion.