KOSPI May Give Up Support At 2,200 Points

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 80 points or 3.7 percent. The KOSPI sits just above the 2,230-point plateau and the losses figure to accelerate on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after better than expected U.S. employment data raised grace concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are also tipped to open in similar fashion.

The KOSPI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the automobile companies, gains from the financials and mixed performances from the oil and technology stocks.

For the day, the index slipped 5.02 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 2,232.84 after trading between 2,215.08 and 2,245.88. Volume was 402.26 million shares worth 6.96 trillion won. There were 487 decliners and 370 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 2.16 percent, while KB Financial collected 0.22 percent, Hana Financial improved 1.34 percent, Samsung Electronics eased 0.18 percent, Samsung SDI and LG Chem both climbed 1.03 percent, LG Electronics advanced 1.36 percent, SK Hynix strengthened 1.45 percent, Naver plunged 4.19 percent, Lotte Chemical gathered 1.32 percent, S-Oil dropped 0.82 percent, SK Innovation surged 3.59 percent, POSCO perked 1.12 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.59 percent, KEPCO skidded 1.02 percent, Hyundai Mobis added 0.50 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 1.40 percent and Kia Motors sank 0.70 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red and only worsened as the day progressed.

The Down plunged 630.11 points or 2.11 percent to finish at 29,296.79, while the NASDAQ sank 289.14 points or 3.80 percent to end at 10,652.40 and the S&P 500 slumped 104.86 points or 2.80 percent to close at 3,639.66. For the week, the Dow surged 2.0 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.5 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 0.7 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which failed to ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates by coming in stronger than economists had anticipated.

The unemployment rate matched its lowest level since just before Covid-19 lockdowns began to take effect in February 2020, which was also matched in July. Unemployment has not been lower in over 50 years.

Treasury yields advanced following the release of the report, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note moving higher for the third straight session.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, continuing to find support from the OPEC decision last week to cut output by 2 million barrels per day. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended higher by $4.19 or 4.7 percent at $92.64 a barrel, settling at a five-week high.