Little Movement Seen For South Korea Shares

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Friday snapped the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 25 points or 1.2 percent. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,095-point plateau and the market figures to hold steady in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat, with upbeat economic data offset by a decline in the price of crude oil. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the technology stocks were tempered by support from the automobile producers and a mixed bag from the financials.

For the day, the index lost 13.51 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 2,094.12 after trading between 2,090.05 and 2,107.83.

Among the actives, Samsung Electronics skidded 2.54 percent, while SK hynix plummeted 5.38 percent, LG Electronics shed 0.63 percent, Shinhan Financial lost 0.95 percent, Woori Bank collected 0.37 percent, Hyundai Motor climbed 1.37 percent, Kia Motors gained 0.66 percent, Korea Electric Power added 0.46 percent and POSCO tumbled 4.11 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks inched slightly higher on Friday after spending most of the session in the red.

The Dow crept up 11.44 points or 0.1 percent to 20,821.76, while the NASDAQ rose 9.80 points or 0.2 percent to 5,845.31 and the S&P added 3.53 points or 0.2 percent to 2,367.34. For the week, the Dow gained 1 percent, the S&P was up 0.7 percent and the NASDAQ added 0.1 percent.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales rebounded in January, while the University of Michigan said that consumer sentiment pulled back less than estimated in February.

Crude oil futures eased from 2017 highs on Friday, holding losses after data showed U.S. oil rig count jumped for the 15th week in 16. Nymex April oil futures ended 46 cents lower at $53.99 a barrel.