South Korea Bourse Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 140 points or 4.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 3,070-point plateau although it figures to halt its slide on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for a technical rebound after heavy losses and highly speculative trading in the previous session. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index tanked 53.51 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 3,069.05 after trading between 3,046.64 and 3,114.98. Volume was 1.3 billion shares worth 22.7 trillion won. There were 768 decliners and 114 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial shed 0.46 percent, while KB Financial sank 3.07 percent, Hana Financial surrendered 1.99 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.22 percent, LG Electronics fell 1.50 percent, SK Hynix tanked 4.28 percent, LG Chem climbed 1.08 percent, Lotte Chemical plummeted 3.51 percent, S-Oil dropped 0.85 percent, SK Innovation lost 1.60 percent, POSCO plunged 3.66 percent, SK Telecom skidded 1.20 percent, KEPCO declined 2.69 percent, Hyundai Motor retreated 2.85 percent and Kia Motors was down 2.00 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session after two days of weakness.

The Dow climbed 300.19 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 30,603.36, while the NASDAQ gained 66.56 points or 0.50 percent to end at 13,337.16 and the S&P 500 added 36.61 points or 0.98 percent to close at 3,787.38.

The early rally on Wall Street followed a report from the Labor Department showing a bigger than expected drop in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week.

Also, the Commerce Department said economic growth matched estimates in the fourth quarter of 2020, and also that new home sales in the U.S. rebounded in December after falling in four consecutive months.

On the corporate scene, shares of Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) slumped after disappointing earnings news, while heavily shorted stocks like GameStop (GME), AMC Entertainment (AMC) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) gave back ground after skyrocketing in the previous session.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday on worries about the outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases, tighter lockdown restrictions and delays in vaccine supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $0.51 or 1 percent at $52.34 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will provide December data for industrial production and retail sales later this morning. In November, industrial production was up 0.3 percent on month and 0.5 percent on year, while retail sales fell 1.0 percent on month and 1.5 percent on year.