Little Movement Expected For South Korea Shares

The South Korea stock market has ticked lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,550-point plateau and it may be stuck in neutral again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with tech shares likely to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mixed but little changed and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion on Friday.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the chemicals and steel companies and mixed performances from the financials and technology shares.

For the day, the index sank 15.08 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 2,548.26. Volume was 370.56 million shares worth 8.04 trillion won. There were 696 decliners and 186 gainers.

Among the actives, KB Financial eased 0.18 percent, while Hana Financial collected 0.38 percent, Samsung Electronics gained 0.57 percent, Samsung SDI stumbled 1.33 percent, LG Electronics dropped 0.70 percent, SK Hynix perked 0.25 percent, Naver climbed 1.17 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.37 percent, Lotte Chemical tumbled 2.00 percent, S-Oil rose 0.39 percent, SK Innovation skidded 1.03 percent, POSCO tanked 2.07 percent, SK Telecom advanced 0.84 percent, KEPCO dipped 0.22 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.21 percent, Hyundai Motor improved 0.27 percent, Kia Motors sank 0.76 percent and Shinhan Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened mixed and finished little changed in similar fashion.

The Dow rose 57.54 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 34,500.73, while the NASDAQ sank 123.64 points or 0.89 percent to end at 13,748.83 and the S&P 500 fell 14.34 points or 0.32 percent to close at 4,451.14.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates after the Labor Department reported an unexpected drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

The Fed is still widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its next meeting later this month, but CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates a 43.4 percent chance of another rate hike in November.

The tech-heavy NASDAQ was weighed by weakness from Apple (AAPL) after reports said China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones in sensitive departments to government-backed agencies and state companies.

Crude oil prices fell on Thursday, despite a drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. Profit taking after recent strong gains was largely responsible as West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $0.67 or 0.9 percent at $86.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide July figures for current account later this morning; in June, the current account surplus was $5.87 billion.