- June 7, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Markets
(RTTNews) – The South Korea stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the five-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 85 points or 2.5 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 3,240-point plateau although it’s expected to bounce higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive in response to U.S. employment data and rising crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financials and technology stocks were mitigated by support from the automobile companies.
For the day, the index shed 7.35 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,240.08 after trading between 3,218.67 and 3,246.19. Volume was 1.4 billion shares worth 15.8 trillion won. There were 483 decliners and 371 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial dipped 0.35 percent, while KB Financial skidded 1.20 percent, Hana Financial dropped 0.95 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.72 percent, LG Electronics was down 0.65 percent, SK Hynix fell 0.39 percent, Naver retreated 1.38 percent, LG Chem slid 0.37 percent, Lotte Chemical lost 0.53 percent, S-Oil jumped 1.45 percent, SK Innovation rose 0.37 percent, POSCO perked 0.14 percent, SK Telecom tanked 2.44 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.26 percent, Kia Motors rallied 2.30 percent, Hyundai Mobis soared 3.23 percent and KEPCO was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday and picked up steam as the session progressed.
The Dow climbed 179.39 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 34,756.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 199.99 points or 1.47 percent to end at 13.814.49 and the S&P 500 advanced 37.04 points or 0.88 percent to close at 4,229.89. For the week, the Dow rose 0.7 percent, the NASDAQ added 0.5 percent and the S&P rose 0.6 percent.
The strength on Wall Street came after the Labor Department report showed job growth in the U.S. reaccelerated in May but fell short of estimates, while the jobless rate fell to 5.8 percent.
Traders viewed the weaker than expected job growth as a Goldilocks situation, where the economy is expanding but not fast enough to encourage the Federal Reserve to tighten monetary policy.
Crude oil prices moved higher Friday amid rising hopes for increased demand and the recent OPEC decision to gradually increase crude output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $0.81 or 1.2 percent at $69.62 a barrel, the highest settlement since October 2018.