Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For South Korea Shares

The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 80 points or 3.2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,425-point plateau although it figures to head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the technology and industrial stocks and a mixed performance from the financials.

For the day, the index added 5.46 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 2,427.08 after trading between 2,413.04 and 2,437.90. Volume was 388.8 million shares worth 7.13 trillion won. There were 444 decliners and 432 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial fell 0.29 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.50 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.12 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 0.57 percent, Samsung SDI plunged 2.33 percent, LG Electronics and POSCO both advanced 0.88 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.31 percent, Naver added 0.41 percent, LG Chem surrendered 2.20 percent, Lotte Chemical perked 0.19 percent, S-Oil shed 0.59 percent, SK Innovation stumbled 2.16 percent, SK Telecom soared 2.58 percent, KEPCO tumbled 2.55 percent, Hyundai Mobis gathered 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor eased 0.06 percent and Kia Motors improved 0.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened flat on Thursday and hugged the line for the first half of the day before turning lower to end solidly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 220.33 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 33,891.94, while the NASDAQ sank 128.97 points or 0.94 percent to end at 13,521.45 and the S&P 500 lost 35.43 points or 0.81 percent to close at 4,347.35.

Stocks showed a notable drop in early afternoon trading after the Treasury Department revealed this month’s auction of $24 billion worth of 30-year bonds attracted below average demand, triggering a surge in treasury yields.

The markets saw further downside as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell addressed the outlook for U.S. monetary policy, saying the central bank “will not hesitate” to resume raising interest rates if it becomes appropriate.

Participating in a policy panel in Washington, D.C., Powell acknowledged that U.S. inflation has slowed over the past year but pointed out it remains well above the Fed’s 2 percent target.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after two straight sessions of decline on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December rose $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $75.74 a barrel, due to some short-covering and bargain hunting.