South Korea Shares May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had risen just 8 points or 0.3 percent. The KOSPI now sits just above the 2,680-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.

For the day, the index dropped 25.14 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 2,681.82 after trading between 2,678.21 and 2,712.45. Volume was 501.3 million shares worth 11.7 trillion won. There were 507 decliners and 368 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial surrendered 2.90 percent, while KB Financial tanked 2.93 percent, Hana Financial plunged 5.17 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.48 percent, Samsung SDI retreated 1.60 percent, LG Electronics stumbled 3.01 percent, SK Hynix lost 0.53 percent, Naver rallied 1.25 percent, LG Chem jumped 1.55 percent, Lotte Chemical slumped 1.69 percent, S-Oil weakened 4.96 percent, SK Innovation sank 0.90 percent, POSCO skidded 1.25 percent, SK Telecom dropped 1.37 percent, KEPCO crashed 5.16 percent, Hyundai Mobis plummeted 4.18 percent, Hyundai Motor declined 1.24 percent and Kia Motors tumbled 1.70 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and continued to trend lower throughout the day, ending neat session lows.

The Dow plummeted 475.84 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 37,983.24, while the NASDAQ tumbled 267.10 points or 1.62 percent to close at 16,175.09 and the S&P 500 sank 75.65 points or 1.46 percent to end at 5,123.41.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.5 percent, the S&P lost 1.6 percent and the NASDAQ fell 0.5 percent.

Inflation concerns continued to weigh on the markets as the Labor Department released a report showing import prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in March, which further dampened hopes for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June.

Uninspired earnings and guidance also spooked investors as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Intel, Amazon and Goldman Sachs all ended firmly under water.

Oil prices moved higher on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for supply due to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.64 at $85.66 a barrel.