South Korea Stock Market Has Flat Lead For Monday

The South Korea stock market rebounded solidly on Friday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 30 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,640-point plateau and it’s likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with support from oil stocks capped by weakness from tech shares. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index jumped 46.95 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 2,639.29 after trading between 2,605.38 and 2,641.68.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 2.46 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.94 percent, Hana Financial soared 3.64 percent, Samsung Electronics added 0.74 percent, Samsung SDI increased 2.37 percent, LG Electronics improved 2.96 percent, SK Hynix strengthened 1.35 percent, Naver gained 1.29 percent, LG Chem skyrocketed 8.57 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 1.78 percent, S-Oil dropped 0.93 percent, SK Innovation surged 3.43 percent, POSCO perked 2.28 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.69 percent, KEPCO climbed 1.11 percent, Hyundai Motor rallied 2.47 percent and Kia Motors accelerated 2.19 percent.

Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Friday, quickly plummeted into the red before rallying to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 8.77 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 31,261.90, while the NASDAQ fell 33.88 points or 0.30 percent to close at 11,354.62 and the S&P 500 rose 0.57 points or 0.01 percent to end at 3,901.36.

For the week, the NASDAQ dove 3.8 percent, the S&P sank 3 percent and the Dow lost 2.9 percent.

The extended volatility on Wall Street came as traders continued to debate when the markets will reach a bottom following recent weakness.

The S&P 500 was down more than 20 percent from January’s record closing high, which is seen as signaling a bear market.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday, lifted by the proposed ban on Russian oil by the EU and the relaxation of Covid lockdowns in China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July added $0.39 or 0.4 percent at $110.28 a barrel.