The South Korean stock market has experienced gains for four consecutive sessions, increasing by over 130 points or 5.5 percent in total. The KOSPI index now resides slightly above the 2,490-point mark and projections suggest further growth on Monday.
Globally, predictions for the Asian markets indicate minimal movement as investors await the FOMC meeting scheduled for later this week. Both European and U.S. markets displayed marginal weakness, and Asian markets are expected to follow this trend.
The outlook for South Korea appears more optimistic after Saturday's vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, potentially offering more clarity to the nation's political environment.
On Friday, the KOSPI showed modest gains. Advances by technology and automobile sectors were restrained by a downturn in the financial sector. The index increased by 12.34 points or 0.50 percent, closing at 2,494.46. Trading volume reached 569 million shares, with a value of 8.73 trillion won. The market saw 632 gainers and 253 decliners.
In individual stock movements, Shinhan Financial dropped 2.17 percent, KB Financial fell 2.30 percent, and Hana Financial decreased by 0.50 percent. Conversely, Samsung Electronics gained 0.36 percent, Samsung SDI surged 1.30 percent, LG Electronics rose 0.57 percent, while SK Hynix declined 0.34 percent. Naver improved by 0.96 percent, LG Chem was up 0.37 percent, and SK Innovation leaped 1.65 percent. POSCO Holdings retreated 1.28 percent, while SK Telecom advanced 1.59 percent. KEPCO increased 0.95 percent, Hyundai Mobis declined 1.01 percent, Hyundai Motor rose 1.65 percent, and Kia Motors added 0.93 percent.
The performance on Wall Street suggested a slight downturn. Major indices started strong on Friday but soon declined, though the NASDAQ managed to recover into positive territory later in the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 86.04 points or 0.20 percent to close at 43,828.06. The NASDAQ rose 23.92 points or 0.12 percent to 19,926.72, while the S&P 500 edged down by just 0.16 points to 6,051.09.
Throughout the week, the NASDAQ gained 0.3 percent, the S&P 500 decreased by 0.6 percent, and the Dow fell 1.8 percent. Early market strength in Wall Street was partially attributed to positive earnings results from Broadcom (AVGO), which surprised with better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and reported strong demand for its custom AI chips.
However, buying interest diminished as traders turned their attention to the forthcoming Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is widely anticipated to reduce interest rates by another 25 basis points, with traders watching the accompanying statement closely for signals on future rate cuts.
In commodities, oil futures ended higher on Friday due to renewed supply concerns following increased sanctions on Iran and Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed at $71.29 a barrel, up $1.27 or about 1.8 percent.
Domestically, South Korea is set to release trade data for November later today. In October, imports decreased by 2.4 percent year-on-year, while exports grew by 1.4 percent, resulting in a trade surplus of $5.61 billion.
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