(RTTNews) – The South Korea stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 580 points or 8.4 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 6,700-point plateau although it may see renewed support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with sliding oil prices offset by weakness among the tech shares. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Friday following heavy damage among the technology stocks and automobile producers.
For the day, the index plunged 406.27 points or 5.72 percent to finish at 6,690.62 after trading between 6,650.41 and 7,000.78. Volume was 395.1 million shares worth 30.9 trillion won. There were 582 decliners and 301 gainers.
The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed and bounced up and down all day before ending on opposite sides of the line.
The Dow jumped 235.60 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 51,947.25, while the NASDAQ sank 161.87 points or 0.64 percent to end at 24,975.82 and the S&P 500 perked 3.68 points or 0.05 percent to close at 7,411.98.
The tech-heavy NASDAQ tumbled 2.1 percent for the week, closing below 25,000 for the first time since late April. The S&P 500 and Dow posted more modest weekly losses, falling by 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.
The strength that emerged on Wall Street in morning trading came amid a sharp pullback by the price of crude oil as investors analyzed the impact of an output increase by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $2.99 or 3.24 percent at $89.20 per barrel.
The subsequent pullback by stocks in afternoon trading reflected renewed tariff concerns after President Donald Trump threatened to impose substantial tariffs on the European Union over the substantial fines the bloc has levied against major U.S. tech companies.
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