The South Korea stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, surging more than 155 points or 7.7 percent
The South Korea stock market has finished higher in six straight sessions, surging more than 155 points or 7.7 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,180-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive following much better than expected U.S. employment data. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher again on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index jumped 30.69 points or 1.43 percent to finish at 2,181.87 after trading between 2,138.18 and 2,187.25. Volume was 840.1 million shares worth 12.6 trillion won. There were 586 gainers and 249 decliners.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial advanced 1.01 percent, while KB Financial collected 2.84 percent, Samsung Electronics climbed 1.65 percent, LG Electronics advanced 1.29 percent, SK Hynix spiked 3.08 percent, S-Oil rose 0.39 percent, SK Innovation added 0.80 percent, POSCO sank 1.23 percent, SK Telecom skidded 1.54 percent, KEPCO gathered 1.36 percent, Hyundai Motors accelerated 2.30 percent, Kia Motors jumped 1.53 percent and Hana Financial and Lotte Chemical were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened sharply higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the session.
The Dow surged 829.16 points or 3.15 percent to 27,110.98, while the NASDAQ soared 198.27 points or 2.06 percent to 9,814.08 and the S&P 500 spiked 81.58 points or 2.62 percent to 3,193.93. For the week, the Dow jumped 6.8 percent, the NASDAQ gained 3.4 percent and the S&P was up 4.9 percent.
The rally on Wall Street came as the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report seemed to prove traders were right to be optimistic about a quick economic recovery following a record spike in employment.
However, the Labor Department also revealed the unemployment rate would have been about 3 percentage points higher if not for the misclassification of persons absent from work due to coronavirus-related business closures.
Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Friday amid optimism about increased energy demand and extended production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up $2.14 or 5.7 percent at $39.55 a barrel.
