Tech Shares May Weigh On South Korea Stocks

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, rallying more than 270 points or 5.5 percent along the way. Now at a fresh record closing high, the KOSPI sits just above the 5,220-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst profit taking and contrasting earnings news. The European and U.S. markets were mixed with a touch of weakness, and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index climbed 50.44 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 5,221.25. Volume was 689.9 million shares worth 35.4 trillion won. There were 577 gainers and 286 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial vaulted 1.55 percent, while KB Financial eased 0.07 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.88 percent, Samsung Electronics skidded 1.05 percent, Samsung SDI stumbled 2.14 percent, LG Electronics advanced 1.00 percent, SK Hynix rallied 2.38 percent, Naver spiked 3.42 percent, LG Chem tanked 3.11 percent, SK Innovation soared 4.90 percent, POSCO Holdings plunged 3.70 percent, SK Telecom added 0.72 percent, KEPCO jumped 2.69 percent, Hyundai Mobis expanded 2.24 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 7.21 percent, Kia Motors surged 3.47 percent and Lotte Chemical was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and then mostly hugged the line before ending mixed.

The Dow rose 55.96 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 49,071.56, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.33 points or 0.72 percent to end at 23,685.12 and the S&P 500 dipped 9.02 points or 0.13 percent to close at 6,969.01.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came amid a steep drop by shares of Microsoft (MSFT) after the company reported slowing cloud computing growth in its fiscal second quarter and provided disappointing third quarter guidance.

Profit taking may also have contributed to the early weakness after the S&P 500 briefly peeked above the 7,000 level for the first time during Wednesday's session.

A strong performance by shares of Meta Platforms (META) may have limited the downside after the Facebook parent reported better than expected fourth quarter results and forecast first quarter revenues above estimates.

Crude oil prices spiked on Thursday as Iran shrugged off U.S. threats to negotiate or face attack, causing concerns over possible supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $2.23 or 3.53 percent at $65.44 per barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will see December data for industrial production and retail sales later this morning. Production is expected to add 0.5 percent on month and fall 2.1 percent on year after rising 0.6 percent on month and falling 1.4 percent on year in November. Sales are tipped to slip 1.0 percent on month after shedding 3.3 percent a month earlier.