Tech Shares Likely To Weigh On South Korea Shares

The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Thursday, one day after halting the five-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 60 points or 2.4 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,520-point plateau although it figures to turn lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with profit taking expected after solid gains a day earlier – especially among the technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Thursday with gains across the board, especially from the technology and financial shares.

For the day, the index jumped 42.90 points or 1.73 percent to finish at the daily high of after 2,523.78 trading as low as 2,506.41. Volume was 495.5 million shares worth 9.39 trillion won. There were 771 gainers and 111 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 1.40 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.76 percent, Hana Financial jumped 2.16 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.35 percent, Samsung SDI increased 1.14 percent, LG Electronics skyrocketed 8.84 percent, SK Hynix improved 1.63 percent, Naver accelerated 2.10 percent, LG Chem strengthened 1.54 percent, Lotte Chemical soared 3.90 percent, S-Oil rose 0.35 percent, SK Innovation surged 3.93 percent, POSCO spiked 3.42 percent, SK Telecom gained 0.77 percent, KEPCO added 0.46 percent, Hyundai Mobis gathered 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor perked 0.26 percent and Kia Motors was up 0.12 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but were unable to hold the early gains and eventually finished mixed.

The Dow rose 27.16 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 33,336.67, while the NASDAQ sank 74.89 points or 0.58 percent to end at 12,779.91 and the S&P 500 dipped 2.97 points or 0.07 percent to close at 4,207.27.

The extended rally in early trading came after the Labor Department released a report showing an unexpected decrease in producer prices in July.

Following Wednesday’s tamer than expected consumer price data, the report initially added to optimism that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of its interest rate hikes next month.

However, subsequent comments from Fed officials seemed to downplay the data, with Chicago Fed President Charles Evans saying inflation remains “unacceptably high.”

Crude oil prices rose sharply Thursday on rising hopes for energy demand after the International Energy Agency lifted its demand outlook. The dollar’s weakness following the soft inflation data also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures ended higher by $2.41 or 2.6 percent at $94.34 a barrel.

Closer to home, the Bank of Korea said this morning that export prices were down 2.1 percent on month in July, after rising 1.0 percent in June. On a yearly basis, export prices climbed 16.3, slowing from the downwardly revised 23.5 percent gain in the previous month (originally 23.7 percent).