Losing Streak May Continue For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Thursday's holiday for National Day, the South Korea stock market had finished lower in three straight sessions, stumbling almost 110 points or 4.2 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,560-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the technology stocks and industrials, while the financials offered support.

For the day, the index slumped 31.58 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 2,561.69 after trading between 2,555.46 and 2,591.61. Volume was 341.9 million shares worth 9.38 trillion won. There were 705 decliners and 177 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.72 percent, while KB Financial added 0.49 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.19 percent, Samsung Electronics slid 0.33 percent, Samsung SDI tumbled 1.85 percent, LG Electronics slumped 1.25 percent, SK Hynix plunged 3.15 percent, Naver shed 0.71 percent, LG Chem dropped 0.84 percent, Lotte Chemical surrendered 1.97 percent, S-Oil retreated 1.47 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.85 percent, POSCO tanked 2.47 percent, SK Telecom fell 0.54 percent, KEPCO plummeted 2.43 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 1.38 percent, Hyundai Motor stumbled 2.89 percent and Kia Motors declined 1.20 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and largely remained in the red throughout the day, closing with modest losses.

The Dow dropped 184.93 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 42,011.59, while the NASDAQ eased 6.65 points or 0.04 percent to close at 17,918.47 and the S&P 500 fell 9.60 points or 0.17 percent to end at 5,699.94.

The lack of direction on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Labor Department's highly anticipated monthly jobs report on Friday.

The data could impact the outlook for the U.S. economy as well as expectations regarding how aggressively the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates.

Traders also kept an eye on developments in the Middle East, where an escalating conflict has contributed to a sharp increase by the price of crude oil.

Oil prices moved up sharply on Thursday thanks to tensions in the Middle East, with the war between Israel and Iran raising concerns about supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $3.61 or 5.2 percent at $73.71 a barrel.