South Korea Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing almost 60 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,350-point plateau although it may see some profit taking on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with easing recession concerns offset by the worsening outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financials and industrials, while the technology, chemical and oil companies were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 16.34 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 2,350.61 after trading between 2,348.74 and 2,367.84. Volume was 397 billion shares at 6.89 trillion won. There were 588 gainers and 261 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial soared 3.42 percent, while KB Financial rallied 2.06 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.09 percent, Samsung Electronics advanced 0.86 percent, Samsung SDI sank 0.74 percent, LG Electronics plummeted 4.07 percent, SK Hynix improved 0.96 percent, Naver spiked 1.63 percent, LG Chem surged 3.05 percent, Lotte Chemical shed 0.55 percent, S-Oil eased 0.11 percent, POSCO perked 0.43 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.37 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.89 percent, Hyundai Motor jumped 1.71 percent, Kia Motors accelerated 1.45 percent, Hyundai Mobis skyrocketed 5.68 percent and SK Innovation was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line on Friday, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 46.45 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 31,338.15m while the NASDAQ rose 14.01 points or 0.12 percent to end at 11,635.31 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.24 points or 0.08 percent to close at 3,899.38. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.6 percent, the S&P jumped 1.9 percent and the Dow rose 0.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected U.S. job growth in June.

The data eased worries about the economy, but it also added to concerns about aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, gaining for a second straight day after the stronger than expected jobs report. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August jumped $2.06 or 2 percent at $104.79 a barrel, but WTI crude futures shed more than 3 percent in the week.