Rebound Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

The South Korea stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 70 points or 2.8 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,660-point plateau although it’s likely to find renewed support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index dropped 26.91 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 2,658.99 after trading between 2,653.59 and 2,674.00. Volume was 513.1 million shares worth 7.6 trillion won. There were 520 decliners and 322 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial declined 1.63 percent, while KB Financial plunged 3.64 percent, Hana Financial plummeted 3.84 percent, Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI both skidded 1.04 percent, LG Electronics shed 0.95 percent, SK Hynix dropped 0.93 percent, Naver improved 0.69 percent, LG Chem tanked 2.56 percent, S-Oil sank 0.86 percent, POSCO fell 0.35 percent, SK Telecom retreated 1.58 percent, KEPCO stumbled 1.71 percent, Hyundai Motor slumped 1.06 percent, Kia Motors lost 0.82 percent and SK Innovation and Lotte Chemical were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages shook off early weakness on Thursday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 435.05 points or 1.33 percent to finish at 33,248.28, while the NASDAQ spiked 322.44 points or 2.69 percent to end at 12,316.90 and the S&P 500 gained75.59 points or 1.84 percent to close at 4,176.82.

The rally on the day more than offset the pullback seen over the two previous sessions, with the major averages reaching their best closing levels in almost a month.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street may partly have reflected optimism that the Federal Reserve could alter its plans to aggressively raise interest rates in the light of some weak economic data.

Later today, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.

Crude oil moved notably higher on Thursday after the Energy Information Administration released a report showing a much bigger than expected weekly decrease in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. Crude for July delivery jumped $1.61 or 1.4 percent to $116.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release May numbers for consumer prices later this morning, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.4 percent on month and 5.1 percent on year. That follows the 0.7 percent monthly increase and the 4.8 percent annual gain in April.