FX.co ★ Renewed Selling Pressure Expected For South Korea Shares

South Korea's stock market experienced an upswing on Thursday, bouncing back after a three-day growth spurt, totalling a mere 0.3 percent or 8 points. The KOSPI (Korea Composite Stock Price Index) is now slightly above the 2,740-point mark, however, forecasts suggest it may decrease again on Friday.

Global projections for Asian markets are less promising due to renewed worries about future interest rates. Despite slight growth in European markets, U.S. markets fell sharply, a trend expected to be followed by the Asian markets.

Thursday saw a significant upturn for KOSPI, thanks to substantial earnings from financial shares, technology stocks and industrial issues. The index escalated by 1.29 percent, ending the day at 2,742.00 with a volume of 468.06 million shares worth 11.64 trillion won, marking an impressive performance.

Major stocks witnessed notable changes, with Shinhan Financial up by 2.41 percent, KB Financial and Samsung SDI both rose by 3.27 percent. Substantial increases were also observed in Hana Financial (4.86 percent), SK Hynix (4.91 percent), Hyundai Motor (4.63 percent) and Kia Motors (4.81 percent).

Wall Street's influence has been generally negative, with key averages opening higher on Thursday, but falling substantially towards the end of the day. The Dow finished the day at 38,596.98, 530.16 points lower, while the NASDAQ closed at 16,049.08, a fall of 228.38 points.

The drastic sell-off from Wall Street was caused partly by a sustained rise in crude oil prices, leading to increased inflation concerns and doubts about the Federal Reserve's plans about interest rates.

Oil prices continued to rise on Thursday due to concerns about supply disruptions fueled by geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.16 or 1.4 percent at $86.59 a barrel, marking a consecutive five-day gain.

Meanwhile, stocks initially rose owing to positive reactions to a report by the Labor Department showing an unexpected increase in U.S. unemployment benefits claims last week. This sparked some optimism about interest rates, despite the uncertainty of a potential rate cut in June.

On the domestic front, South Korea is due to release data on its current account for February, following a surplus of $3.05 billion in January.