South Korea Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had slumped almost 40 points or 1.6 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,580-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares were offset by weakness from the technology sector.

For the day, the index added 2.24 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 2,583.27 after trading between 2,577.00 and 2,611.27. Volume was 454.58 million shares worth 10.14 trillion won. There were 617 decliners and 258 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 3.39 percent, while KB Financial skyrocketed 8.37 percent, Hana Financial surged 4.07 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.24 percent, Samsung SDI and LG Chem both stumbled 1.68 percent, LG Electronics plummeted 5.25 percent, SK Hynix strengthened 1.41 percent, Naver tanked 2.50 percent, Lotte Chemical perked 0.22 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.78 percent, POSCO skidded 1.18 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.35 percent, KEPCO slumped 1.08 percent, Hyundai Mobis spiked 2.60 percent, Hyundai Motor dropped 1.31 percent and Kia Motors jumped 1.98 percent.

The lead from Wall Street again offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but slumped as the day progressed to end mixed.

The Dow stumbled 259.96 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 42,114.40, while the NASDAQ added 103.12 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,518.61 and the S&P 500 eased 1.74 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,808.12.

For the week, the Dow tumbled 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 1.0 percent, but the NASDAQ rose 0.2 percent.

Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for the economy after the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in October.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded following Thursday's pullback amid lingering concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.

Oil prices rose sharply on Friday amid worries about geopolitical tensions and for potential output adjustments from OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.8 percent in the week.