(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 30 points or 1.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,200-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with optimism for economic recovery tempered by renewed coronavirus concerns. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the technology stocks and automobile producers were capped by weakness from the financial shares and chemical companies.
For the day, the index advanced 17.43 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 2,201.19 after trading between 2,187.85 and 2,204.20. Volume was 561 million shares worth 10.1 trillion won. There were 483 gainers and 362 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial skidded 1.00 percent, while KB Financial dropped 0.83 percent, Hana Financial eased 0.18 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.12 percent, LG Electronics jumped 1.62 percent, SK Hynix added 0.24 percent, LG Chem declined 1.34 percent, Lotte Chemical retreated 0.84 percent, S-Oil sank 0.94 percent, SK Telecom shed 0.46 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.77 percent, Hyundai Motors surged 6.82 percent, Kia Motors spiked 4.25 percent and POSCO and SK Innovation were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as stocks showed a lack of direction on Friday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing mixed.
The Dow shed 62.76 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 26,671.95, while the NASDAQ added 29.36 points or 0.28 percent to end at 10,503.19 and the S&P 500 rose 9.16 points or 0.28 percent to close at 3,224.73. For the week, the Dow added 2.3 percent, the NASDAQ sank 1.1 percent and the S&P rose 1.2 percent.
The U.S. saw a record 77,255 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Reflecting the widespread resurgence of the coronavirus, the University of Michigan reported an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in July.
A steep drop by shares of Netflix (NFLX) also weighed on the markets, with the video streaming giant plunging by 6.5 percent after reporting Q2 earnings that missed estimates and forecast weaker than expected subscriber growth.
Crude oil prices edged lower Friday, weighed by concerns about the outlook for near-term energy demand due to the surge in new coronavirus cases. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.16 or 0.4 percent at $40.59 a barrel.
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