Tech Shares May Cap KOSPI's Upside On Friday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped almost 20 points or 0.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,535-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mostly positive, although technology companies may fall under pressure. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets also figure to move into the green.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financial shares and technology stocks were capped by weakness from the chemical and automobile companies.

For the day, the index gained 15.48 points or 0.61 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,535.29 after trading as low as 2,507.80. Volume was 645.4 million shares worth 11.5 trillion won. There were 563 gainers and 319 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial jumped 1.65 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.35 percent, Hana Financial advanced 0.97 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.14 percent, Samsung SDI perked 0.11 percent, LG Electronics sank 0.68 percent, SK Hynix soared 2.68 percent, Naver gathered 0.24 percent, LG Chem shed 0.60 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 1.78 percent, S-Oil retreated 1.30 percent, SK Innovation added 0.56 percent, SK Telecom gained 0.58 percent, KEPCO strengthened 1.51 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.65 percent, Hyundai Motor fell 0.27 percent, Kia Motors eased 0.12 percent and POSCO was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, with the Dow remaining solidly in the green throughout the session. The NASDAQ quickly turned lower and stayed in the red, while the S&P also fell into negative territory but staged a late rally into positive territory.

The Dow surged 520.47 points or 1.47 percent to finish at 35,950.89, while the NASDAQ slumped 32.27 points or 0.23 percent to close at 14,226.22 and the S&P 500 added 17.22 points or 0.38 percent to end at 4,567.80.

The surge by the Dow was due in large part to a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud software company soaring by 9.4 percent after it reported better than expected fiscal third quarter earnings and provided upbeat guidance.

Meanwhile, the decrease by the NASDAQ came amid a rebound by treasury yields, as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note bounced off its lowest levels in over two months.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that consumer price growth in the U.S. slowed in line with estimates in October.

Oil prices tumbled on Thursday despite an announcement from OPEC that members have agreed to voluntarily output cuts for the first quarter of 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $1.90 or 2.4 percent at $75.96 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning; in October, imports were down 9.7 percent on year and exports rose an annual 5.1 percent for a trade surplus of $1.63 billion.