Rally May Stall For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, improving almost 80 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,590-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks and automobile producers, while the financials and chemicals were soft.

For the day, the index added 12.57 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 2,593.37 after trading between 2,591.40 and 2,619.55. Volume was 477.43 million shares worth 13.78 trillion won. There were 562 gainers and 319 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial tanked 2.46 percent, while KB Financial collected 1.33 percent, Samsung Electronics dipped 0.16 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 1.21 percent, LG Electronics added 0.55 percent, SK Hynix soared 2.81 percent, Naver lost 0.44 percent, LG Chem dropped 0.94 percent, Lotte Chemical climbed 1.14 percent, S-Oil shed 0.49 percent, SK Innovation declined 1.51 percent, POSCO eased 0.13 percent, SK Telecom retreated 1.54 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.13 percent, Hyundai Mobis rose 0.22 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.83 percent, Kia Motors spiked 2.03 percent and Hana Financial was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the session's end.

The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursday's significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Fed's first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.