South Korea Stock Market May See Additional Support

The South Korea stock market has finished higher in back-to-back trading days, jumping more than 105 points or 3.3 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,945-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, supported by bargain hunting and crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues.

For the day, the index jumped 45.55 points or 1.57 percent to finish at the daily high of 2,945.27 after trading as low as 2,874.64. Volume was 523 million shares worth 11.8 trillion won. There were 756 gainers and 139 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial gained 2.13 percent, while KB Financial collected 2.04 percent, Hana Financial spiked 2.48 percent, Samsung Electronics jumped 1.88 percent, LG Electronics was up 1.67 percent, SK Hynix soared 3.00 percent, Samsung SDI skidded 1.15 percent, Naver rallied 2.18 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.45 percent, S-Oil improved 2.05 percent, SK Innovation soared 2.77 percent, POSCO perked 1.62 percent, SK Telecom climbed 1.47 percent, KEPCO strengthened 2.39 percent, Hyundai Mobis surged 4.13 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.24 percent and Kia Motors added 0.45 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and largely remained that way to finish with solid gains.

The Dow surged 617.75 points or 1.82 percent to finish at 34,639.70, while the NASDAQ advanced 127.27 points or 0.83 percent to close at 15,381.32 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.04 points or 1.42 percent to end at 4,577.10.

The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected bargain hunting following the steep drop on Wednesday, extending the rollercoaster ride stocks have been on since news of the detection of omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Traders have seemed extremely sensitive to omicron-related news amid concerns the variant could derail the economic recovery even as the Federal Reserve begins scaling back stimulus.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest rebound by initial jobless claims last week.

Crude oil prices rallied on Thursday after falling to a three-month low in the previous session, shaking off plans by OPEC to increase output. West Texas Intermediate for January delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.4 percent to $66.50 a barrel.