South Korea's stock market has risen in consecutive sessions, accumulating nearly 40 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI is now just above the 2,680 plateau, although it could lose strength on Monday.
The global forecast for Asian countries. markets is weak, and energy and technology stocks are likely to be under pressure. European markets were mixed and little changed and US stocks fell and Asian markets are expected to split the difference.
The KOSPI ended sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks, industrial and energy companies.
During the day, the index improved 32.73 points or 1.24 percent to end at 2,680.35. The volume was 444.9 million shares worth 11.1 trillion won. There were 520 winners and 350 losers.
Among assets, Shinhan Financial strengthened 1.32 percent, while KB Financial lost 0.42 percent, Hana Financial fell 0.17 percent, Samsung Electronics rallied 1.52 percent, Samsung SDI rose soared 3.40 percent, LG Electronics improved 0.74 percent, SK Hynix rose 4.24 percent, Naver lost 0.53 percent. percent, LG Chem rose 0.33 percent, Lotte Chemical fell 0.33 percent, S-Oil jumped 1.64 percent, SK Innovation gained 0.72 percent, POSCO added 0.34 percent, SK Telecom advanced 0.77 percent, KEPCO fell 0.83 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.20 percent, Kia Motors increased 1.82 percent and Hyundai Mobis remained unchanged.
Wall Street's upside is negative, as the major averages opened higher on Friday, but soon after fell into the red, closing underwater.
The Dow Jones fell 68.71 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 38,722.69, while the Nasdaq fell 188.29 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 16,085.11 and the S&P 500 sank 33, 67 points or 0.65 percent to close at 5,123.69. For the week, the Nasdaq fell 1.2 percent, the Dow lost 0.9 percent and the S&P lost 0.3 percent.
Initial strength on Wall Street came as the Labor Department's closely watched monthly employment report increased optimism about the outlook for interest rates. While job growth in February was much stronger than expected, the report also showed notable downward revisions to job growth over the previous two months.
The downward revisions and unexpected rise in the unemployment rate, combined with a slowdown in the annual rate of wage growth, have increased optimism that the Federal Reserve will begin reducing interest rates in June.
However, buying interest remained somewhat subdued as traders appeared reluctant to continue buying stocks ahead of the release of key inflation data this week that could have a deeper impact on the outlook for rates.
Oil prices fell on Friday amid uncertainty over the outlook for demand, particularly from China after data showed a drop in the country's oil imports in the first two months of the year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April lost $0.92 or 1.2 percent to $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude oil futures fell 2.5 percent on the week.
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