KOSPI May Give Up 4,000-Poiint Level

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day slide in which it had plummeted almost 220 points or 5 percent. The KOSPI sits just above the 4,025-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourse is negative, with technology and oil shares likely to lead the markets lower. The European and U.S. markets were solidly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, chemicals and automobile producers, while the technology stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 22.03 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 4,026.45. Volume was 418.8 million shares worth 21.2 trillion won. There were 630 gainers and 266 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial soared 5.18 percent, while KB Financial rallied 3.04 percent, Hana Financial skyrocketed 7.02 percent, Samsung Electronics retreated 1.39 percent, Samsung SDI dropped 0.92 percent, LG Electronics accelerated 5.28 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.42 percent, Naver plummeted 5.12 percent, LG Chem perked 0.13 percent, Lotte Chemical jumped 1.86 percent, SK Innovation eased 0.08 percent, POSCO Holdings slipped 0.16 percent, SK Telecom strengthened 1.52 percent, KEPCO surged 5.98 percent, Hyundai Mobis vaulted 2.26 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 0.19 percent and Kia Motors advanced 0.90 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened in the red on Thursday and spent the entire session under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 398.70 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 46,912.30, while the NASDAQ plunged 445.80 points or 1.90 percent to close at 23,053.99 and the S&P 500 sank 75.97 points or 1.12 percent to end at 6,720.32.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street came on renewed weakness among artificial intelligence-related stocks, which led the sell-off on Tuesday. Concerns about an AI bubble and the possibility of a near-term correction have recently weighed on investors' minds.

Negative sentiment may also have been generated in reaction to a report from global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas showing a sharp increase in layoff announcements in the month of October.

Crude oil prices fell Thursday on oversupply concerns after the American Petroleum Institute revealed that U.S. crude oil inventories increased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $0.21 or 0.35 percent at $59.39 per barrel.