FX.co ★ South Korea Shares Poised To Return To The Upside

In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year holiday, South Korea's stock market experienced gains on two out of three trading days. This development followed a three-day downturn where it lost nearly 10 points, equivalent to 0.4 percent. The KOSPI index currently sits slightly above the 2,535 mark and is anticipated to open positively on Friday.

The global outlook for Asian markets is optimistic, buoyed by expected support from sectors like oil, gold, and technology. Both European and U.S. markets saw an uptick on Thursday, setting a positive precedent for Asian trading floors.

The KOSPI closed slightly higher on Friday following varied performances across the financial, technology, chemical, and automobile sectors. Specifically, the index rose 21.31 points, or 0.85 percent, closing at 2,536.80. It traded within a range of 2,522.64 to 2,542.83, backed by a volume of 576.9 million shares totaling 9.83 trillion won. In the market, there were 542 advancing stocks compared to 321 decliners.

Examining specific companies, Shinhan Financial decreased by 0.60 percent, whereas KB Financial increased by 0.34 percent. Hana Financial saw a minor rise of 0.17 percent. Samsung SDI notably fell by 2.58 percent, while LG Electronics inched up by 0.71 percent. SK Hynix climbed by 0.68 percent, Naver declined by 0.24 percent, and LG Chem dipped by 0.42 percent. Meanwhile, Lotte Chemical saw a 0.35 percent rise, SK Innovation dropped by 0.75 percent, and POSCO Holdings improved by 0.77 percent. SK Telecom slipped by 0.18 percent, whereas KEPCO advanced by 0.96 percent. Notably, Hyundai Mobis surged by 4.56 percent, Hyundai Motor decreased by 1.91 percent, Kia Motors went down by 0.97 percent, and Samsung Electronics remained unchanged.

The direction from Wall Street is encouraging, as the major indexes opened higher on Thursday, wavered slightly, but ultimately ended above neutral.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by 168.61 points or 0.38 percent to close at 44,882.13. The NASDAQ Composite added 49.43 points or 0.25 percent, finishing at 19,681.75, and the S&P 500 Index rose by 31.86 points or 0.53 percent, closing at 6,071.17.

There was a significant downturn in the markets later in the session following President Donald Trump's announcement regarding a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico, effective February 1.

Despite this, markets rebounded prior to closing, fueled by volatile earnings reports throughout the session. Companies like IBM Corp. and Meta Platforms reported quarterly results that exceeded expectations, while Microsoft and UPS presented reasonable earnings yet offered disappointing future guidance.

Oil futures witnessed a slight increase on Thursday, amidst expectations of decreasing supplies due to the potential new tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods. A decline in the U.S. dollar also provided upward momentum. March futures for West Texas Intermediate crude oil rose by $0.11, or 0.15 percent, settling at $72.73 per barrel.