KOSPI Expected To Halt Its Slide On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, plunging more than 280 points or 5.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI sits just beneath the 5,090-point plateau although it figures to find traction on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting among the technology companies likely to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the technology, chemical and automobile sectors, while the financial shares offered support.

For the day, the index tumbled 74.43 points or 1.44 percent to finish at 5,089.14 after trading between 4,899.30 and 5,120.77. Volume was 738.6 million shares worth 29.4 trillion won. There were 702 decliners and 189 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.97 percent, while KB Financial surged 7.03 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.44 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.44 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 4.02 percent, LG Electronics skidded 1.10 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.36 percent, Naver surrendered 3.11 percent, LG Chem tumbled 2.56 percent, Lotte Chemical cratered 3.57 percent, SK Innovation plummeted 3.28 percent, POSCO Holdings retreated 2.04 percent, SK Telecom crashed 10.71 percent, KEPCO slumped 1.94 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.73 percent, Hyundai Motor plunged 4.30 percent and Kia Motors stumbled 2.75 percent.

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

The Dow surged 1,206.97 points or 2.47 percent to finish at a record 50,115.67, while the NASDAQ soared 490.61 points or 2.18 percent to close at 23,031.21 and the S&P 500 jumped 133.90 points or 1.97 percent to end at 6,932.30.

For the week, the Dow rallied 2.5 percent, while the S&P dipped 0.1 percent and the NASDAQ fell 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the recent weakness, especially among the technology shares that had dragged the NASDAQ to its lowest close in two months.

Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, as did computer hardware and semiconductor stocks. A sharp increase by the price of gold also provided significant strength to the markets.

Crude oil moved higher on Friday after the U.S. issued an advisory telling its citizens to depart from Iran, further stoking concerns of war. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.20 or 0.32 percent at $63.49 per barrel.