South Korea Shares May See Renewed Consolidation

The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had plunged almost 250 points or 5.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,420-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on 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 barely higher on Thursday following gains from the industrials and mixed performances from the financial shares and technology stocks.

For the day, the index rose 1.78 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 2,418.86 after trading between 2,410.93 and 2,441.43. Volume was 628.4 million shares worth 12.6 trillion won.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.89 percent, while KB Financial declined 1.21 percent, Hana Financial stumbled 1.32 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.38 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 3.52 percent, LG Electronics spiked 2.28 percent, SK Hynix plunged 5.41 percent, Naver accelerated 3.46 percent, LG Chem shed 0.52 percent, Lotte Chemical surged 5.83 percent, SK Innovation slumped 1.44 percent, POSCO skyrocketed 7.27 percent, SK Telecom eased 0.18 percent, KEPCO soared 4.05 percent, Hyundai Mobis advanced 0.99 percent, Hyundai Motor gained 0.80 percent and Kia Motors jumped 1.87 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday but quickly fell into the red and stayed that way, ending near session lows.

The Dow dropped 207.33 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 43,750.86, while the NASDAQ slumped 123.07 points or 0.64 percent to close at 19,107.65 and the S&P 500 sank 36.21 points or 0.60 percent to end at 5,949.17.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street late in the session came after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank does not “need to be in a hurry to lower rates” due to the strength of the economy.

Powell’s remarks came as the latest batch of U.S. economy data generated some uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

While the Fed is still widely expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point next month, there is some concern that sticky inflation will lead the central bank to slow the pace of its rate cuts in early 2025.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, supported by data showing a drop in gasoline stockpiles. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.27 or about 0.4 percent at $68.70 a barrel.

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