The South Korea stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 30 points or 1.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,360-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to slightly higher, with hopes for stimulus tempered by climbing coronavirus cases. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, chemical companies and automobile producers.
For the day, the index added 5.76 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 2,360.81 after trading between 2,344.49 and 2,368.57. Volume was 874 million shares worth 10.5 trillion won. There were 436 gainers and 408 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial spiked 3.81 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.84 percent, Hana Financial rallied 2.49 percent, Samsung Electronics rose 0.17 percent, LG Electronics climbed 1.32 percent, SK Hynix gained 0.72 percent, Samsung SDI skidded 1.16 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.72 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 2.68 percent, S-Oil added 0.69 percent, POSCO soared 4.76 percent, KEPCO dropped 0.93 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 2.77 percent, Kia Motors surged 2.32 percent and SK Telecom and SK Innovation were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Friday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending mixed.
The Dow eased 28.09 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 28,335.57, while the NASDAQ gained 42.28 points or 0.37 percent to end at 11,548.28 and the S&P 500 rose 11.90 points or 0.34 percent to close at 3,465.39. For the week, the Dow shed 0.9 percent, the NASDAQ lost 1.1 percent and the S&P fell 0.5 percent.
The choppy trading on Friday came amid a lack of concrete news out of Washington regarding a new coronavirus stimulus bill. Traders have generally remained optimistic that a bill will eventually be passed, although they may be tired of waiting.
A steep drop by shares of Intel (INTC) weighed on the Dow, with the semiconductor giant plunging 10.6 percent after reporting Q3 earnings that beat estimates but on weaker than expected revenues for its Data Center Group. Credit card giant American Express (AXP) also tumbled after reporting Q3 earnings that missed expectations.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday, weighed down by worries about energy demand due to the surge in coronavirus cases and lockdown measures in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down by $0.79 or 1.9 percent at $39.85 a barrel.
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