Additional Support Anticipated For South Korea Shares

The South Korea stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had given up almost 25 points or 1 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2570-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to encouraging economic data.
The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index climbed 38.19 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 2,572.89. Volume was 406.1 million shares worth 9.4 trillion won. There were 608 gainers and 253 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.27 percent, while KB Financial improved 1.08 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.85 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.13 percent, Samsung SDI surged 4.66 percent, LG Electronics was up 0.10 percent, SK Hynix spiked 3.12 percent, Naver strengthened 1.58 percent, LG Chem accelerated 2.41 percent, Lotte Chemical gained 0.86 percent, S-Oil shed 0.50 percent, SK Innovation jumped 1.44 percent, POSCO soared 4.54 percent, SK Telecom advanced 1.01 percent, KEPCO rallied 1.12 percent, Hyundai Mobis perked 0.21 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 0.47 percent and Kia Motors added 0.89 percent,

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow surged 331.58 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 34,907.11, while the NASDAQ spiked 112.47 points or 0.81 percent to end at 13,926.05 and the S&P 500 improved 37.66 points or 0.84 percent to close at 4,505.10.

The strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales in the U.S. increased by much more than expected in the month of August.

Also, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in month of August. However, the data does not raise concerns about inflation, as the increase in prices was largely due to a spike in energy prices.

Oil prices rose sharply on Thursday as concerns over the outlook for crude supplies outweighed worries about energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.64 or 1.9 percent at $90.16 a barrel, the highest settlement in almost 10 months.

Closer to home, South Korea will see August figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In July, imports were down 22.8 percent on year and exports fell 8.4 percent on year, resulting in a trade surplus of $0.87 billion.