Little Movement Anticipated For South Korea Bourse

The South Korea stock market has finished lower in back-to-back trading days, although it has given up not quite 6 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The KOSPI now sits just above the 3,165-point plateau and it’s likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key inflation data from the United States later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and automobile producers, while the oil and technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index dipped 2.92 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,165.51 after trading between 3,142.37 and 3,173.86. Volume was 1.1 billion shares worth 19.9 trillion won. There were 496 gainers and 360 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.60 percent, while KB Financial plummeted 3.15 percent, Hana Financial tumbled 1.99 percent, Samsung Electronics fell 0.25 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.64 percent, SK Hynix gained 0.81 percent, Naver tanked 2.34 percent, LG Chem plunged 3.49 percent, Lotte Chemical declined 1.25 percent, S-Oil surrendered 2.87 percent, SK Innovation climbed 1.28 percent, POSCO soared 3.15 percent, SK Telecom added 0.47 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.76 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 1.34 percent and Kia Motors lost 0.62 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is conflicted as the Dow and S&P both opened in the green on Friday and finished the same way, while the NASDAQ saw a soft start and ended barely lower.

The Dow climbed 141.59 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 34,464.64, while the NASDAQ eased 1.72 points or 0.01 percent to close at 13,736.28 and the S&P 500 rose 4.89 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,200.88.

The lackluster performance came as traders continued to look ahead to a highly anticipated reading on inflation later today. The inflation reading is said to be preferred by the Federal Reserve and could have a significant impact on the outlook for monetary policy.

Traders were also digesting a report from the Labor Department showing weekly jobless claims once again fell to a new pandemic-era low. The continued decrease in jobless claims paints a positive picture of the labor market but also raised concerns that the Fed will move closer to tapering its asset purchases in the near future.

Also, the Commerce Department showed an unexpected pullback in durable goods orders in April, and a separate report noted that the pace of U.S. economic growth in the first quarter was unrevised from the advance estimate.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fifth straight session on following a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $0.64 or 1 percent at $66.85 a barrel.

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