Tech Shares May Drive South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 35 points or 1.1 percent. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 3,225-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic following encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemical companies.

For the day, the index added 8.46 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,224.64 after trading between 3,210.31 and 3,235.39. Volume was 1.9 billion shares worth 18.8 trillion won. There were 426 decliners and 418 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.71 percent, while KB Financial rose 0.53 percent, Hana Financial dipped 0.11 percent, Samsung Electronics eased 0.12 percent, LG Electronics fell 0.33 percent, SK Hynix gained 0.41 percent, Naver soared 4.18 percent, LG Chem added 0.62 percent, Lotte Chemical tanked 2.20 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 1.82 percent, SK Telecom and POSCO both perked 0.15 percent, KEPCO sank 0.76 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 1.46 percent, Kia Motors declined 1.22 percent and S-Oil was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks opened higher on Thursday, tumbled shortly thereafter but rebounded to end in the green.

The Dow added 19.10 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 34,466.24, while the NASDAQ jumped 108.58 points or 0.78 percent to end at 14,020.33 and the SYP 500 rose 19.63 points or 0.47 percent to close at 4,239.18.

The higher close on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in consumer prices in May.

Also, the Labor Department reported another modest decrease in first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil futures moved higher on Thursday amid optimism energy demand will pick up gradually following an Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that showed a big drop in U.S. crude stockpiles last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.33 or 0.5 percent at $70.29 a barrel.

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