KOSPI May Add To Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 110 points or 4.2 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 2,570-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following the release of strong U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following nixed performances from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index added 8.02 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 2,569.71. Volume was 405 million shares worth 9.63 trillion won. There were 462 gainers and 412 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tumbled 1.79 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.60 percent, Samsung Electronics slumped 1.14 percent, LG Electronics soared 2.82 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.96 percent, Naver jumped 1.49 percent, LG Chem retreated 1.41 percent, Lotte Chemical stumbled 1.91 percent, SK Innovation perked 0.09 percent, SK Telecom declined 1.73 percent, KEPCO improved 0.75 percent, Hyundai Mobis climbed 1.17 percent, Hyundai Motor advanced 1.05 percent, Kia Motors sank 0.71 percent and Hana Financial and Samsung SDI were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow jumped 341.15 points or 0.81 percent to finish at a record 42,352.75, while the NASDAQ rallied 219.35 points or 1.22 percent to end at 18,137.85 and the S&P 500 advanced 51.13 points or 0.90 percent to close at 5,751.

The support on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment jumped by 254,000 jobs in September after rising by an upwardly revised 159,000 jobs in August.

The stronger than expected jobs growth eased concerns about the economic outlook, but dashed hopes of aggressive rate cuts in the coming months.

Following the jobs data, CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating a 91.2% the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point in November and just a 8.8 percent chance of another half point rate cut.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday on concerns about a possible attack on Iran's oil facilities by Israel, while upbeat U.S. jobs data also supported oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.67 or 0.91 percent at $74.38 a barrel, a five-week high. WTI crude futures gained more than 9 percent in the week.