Rebound Anticipated For South Korea Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had tumbled almost 160 points or 4 percent. The KOSPI sits just above the 3,850-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

For the day, the index cratered 151.59 points or 3.79 percent to finish at 3,853.26 after trading between 3,838.46 and 3,911.55. Volume was 307.95 million shares worth 14.02 trillion won. There were 718 decliners and 177 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.39 percent, while KB Financial shed 0.58 percent, Hana Financial skidded 0.98 percent, Samsung Electronics plunged 5.77 percent, Samsung SDI tanked 4.47 percent, LG Electronics slumped 1.03 percent, SK Hynix cratered 8.76 percent, Naver rallied 2.14 percent, LG Chem stumbled 5.53 percent, Lotte Chemical declined 2.50 percent, SK Innovation retreated 2.55 percent, POSCO Holdings surrendered 3.42 percent, KEPCO tumbled 1.63 percent, Hyundai Motor dropped 0.95 percent, Kia Motors added 0.53 percent and SK Telecom and Hyundai Mobis were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened flat on Friday but rallied in the afternoon, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow jumped 493.15 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 46,245.41, while the NASDAQ rallied 195.03 points or 0.88 percent to end at 22,273.08 and the S&P 500 gained 64.23 points or 0.98 percent to close at 6,602.99.

For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.7 percent, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.0 percent and the Dow slumped 1.9 percent.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street reflected renewed optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting in December following dovish remarks by New York Federal Reserve President John Williams.

Potentially adding to the optimism about the outlook for interest rates, the University of Michigan released a report showing decreases by both year-ahead inflation and long-run inflation expectations in November.

Crude oil prices slumped Friday on oversupply concerns after Ukraine expressed support for the U.S. peace plan to stop the Russia-Ukraine war. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down by $0.86 or 1.46 percent at $58.14 per barrel.