South Korea Bourse May Hand Back Friday’s Gains

The South Korea stock market on Friday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 35 points or 1.4 percent. The KOSPI market now rests just beneath the 2,650-point plateau although it may head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky to lower, weighed by pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 34.96 points or 1.34 percent to finish at 2,648.76. Volume was 584.7 million shares worth 10 trillion won. There were 627 decliners and 249 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 3.49 percent, while KB Financial spiked 3.99 percent, Hana Financial skyrocketed 5.09 percent, Samsung Electronics dipped 0.27 percent, Samsung SDI soared 4.79 percent, LG Electronics increased 1.43 percent, SK Hynix slumped 1.28 percent, Naver added 0.74 percent, LG Chem surged 4.24 percent, Lotte Chemical rallied 4.57 percent, S-Oil advanced 0.83 percent, SK Innovation accelerated 3.92 percent, POSCO perked 0.34 percent, SK Telecom improved 0.77 percent, KEPCO jumped 1.93 percent, Hyundai Mobis strengthened 1.54 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 5.21 percent and Kia Motors climbed 2.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and spent most of the session in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow dropped 145.11 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,627.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 130.55 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,775.65 and the S&P 500 sank 24.16 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,005.57.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in January.

Following last week’s hotter-than expected consumer price inflation figures, the data added to concerns the Federal Reserve will postpone cutting interest rates longer than investors had hoped.

However, the negative sentiment was partly offset by a separate report from the University of Michigan showing an uptick in consumer sentiment in February.

Oil price climbed higher on Friday, lifting the most active WTI Crude futures to a 11-week high, on concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.16 at $79.19 a barrel.