South Korea Shares May See Renewed Support

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 125 points or 5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,555-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat in easing concerns for the health of the United States economy. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the chemical and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 11.68 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 2,556.73 after trading between 2,518.52 and 2,570.34. Volume was 477.7 million shares worth 11.2 trillion won. There were 464 decliners and 423 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial advanced 0.93 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.74 percent, Hana Financial rose 0.34 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 1.74 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 4.11 percent, LG Electronics lost 0.63 percent, SK Hynix surrendered 3.48 percent, LG Chem plummeted 4.66 percent, Lotte Chemical plunged 2.83 percent, S-Oil added 0.46 percent, SK Innovation fell 0.31 percent, POSCO stumbled 2.15 percent, SK Telecom sank 0.73 percent, KEPCO retreated 1.54 percent, Hyundai Mobis improved 0.94 percent, Hyundai Motor perked 0.21 percent and Kia Motors and Naver were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 683.04 points or 1.76 percent to finish at 39,446.49, while the NASDAQ rallied 464.22 points or 2.87 percent to end at 16,660.02 and the S&P 500 jumped 119.81 points or 2.30 percent to close at 5,319.31.

The rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back by more than expected last week.

The data helped ease concerns about the strength of the labor market, which have contributed to recent selling on Wall Street.

On the corporate scene, athletic apparel company Under Armour (UAA) and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (LLY) bounced higher after strong results, while Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) slumped after showing soft numbers.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, amid possible supply disruptions due to Middle East tensions, and on hopes of increased demand in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.96 or 1.28 percent at $76.19 a barrel.