South Korea Bourse May End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, plunging more than 105 points or 4 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,575-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key U.S. jobs data later today. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the technology, industrial, oil and chemical companies.

For the day, the index slipped 5.30 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 2,575.50 after trading between 2,560.65 and 2,615.80. Volume was 371 million shares worth 10 trillion won. There were 519 decliners and 358 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial strengthened 1.26 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.20 percent, Hana Financial rose 0.32 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.43 percent, Samsung SDI jumped 2.09 percent, LG Electronics soared 3.38 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.97 percent, Naver improved 1.46 percent, LG Chem sank 0.77 percent, Lotte Chemical and SK Innovation both gained 0.37 percent, S-Oil tumbled 1.50 percent, POSCO stumbled 1.44 percent, SK Telecom climbed 1.06 percent, KEPCO spiked 2.29 percent, Hyundai Mobis spiked 2.17 percent, Hyundai Motor declined 1.51 percent and Kia Motors added 0.50 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains conflicted as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday and hugged the line for most of the day, finally ending little changed.

The Dow shed 219.22 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 40,755.75, while the NASDAQ added 43.36 points or 0.25 percent to close at 17,127.66 and the S&P 500 sank 16.66 points or 0.30 percent to end at 5,503.41.

The mixed performance on Wall Street followed the release of mixed readings on employment ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

Economists expect employment to add 160,000 jobs in August after rising by 114,000 jobs in July. The unemployment rate is expected to ease to 4.2 percent in August from 4.3 percent in July, which was its highest level since October 2021.

Before the start of trading, payroll processor ADP released a report showing private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of August.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday due to concerns about the outlook for demand, although the downside was limited by reports that OPEC has postponed plans to boost production next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $0.05 at $69.15 a barrel, the lowest settlement in about nine months.