The South Korea stock market on Friday ended the eight-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 225 points or 10 percent to an 18-month closing low. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,160-point plateau and it's expected to add to its winnings on Monday.
The global forecast for the oversold Asian markets is positive, thanks to a jump in crude oil prices and with more bargain hunting expected. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up - and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the technology stocks and heavy industrials, while the financials shares remained weak.
For the day, the index added 32.18 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 2,161.85 after trading between 2,129.13 and 2,173.01. Volume was 288.6 million shares worth 5.97 trillion won. There were 654 gainers and 196 decliners.
Among the actives, Samsung Electronics climbed 2.09 percent, while LG Electronics surged 3.37 percent, SK hynix spiked 4.93 percent, LG Display soared 5.19 percent, Naver gained 0.71 percent, POSCO jumped 3.11 percent, Hyundai Heavy added 0.78 percent, Daewoo Shipbuilding perked 1.67 percent, KEPCO soared 3.77 percent, Shinhan Financial skidded 1.48 percent, KB Financial shed 0.76 percent, Hyundai Motor lost 0.43 percent, Kia Motors picked up 0.45 percent, Hana Financial dropped 1.39 percent and SK Telecom and Woori Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks fluctuated on Friday but finished the session with solid gains.
The Dow climbed 287.16 points or 1.15 percent to 25,339.99, while the NASDAQ spiked 167.83 points or 2.29 percent and the S&P jumped 38.76 points or 1.42 percent to 2,767.13. For the week, the Dow shed 4.2 percent, the NASDAQ dropped 3.7 percent and the S&P skidded 4.1 percent.
Bargain hunting contributed to the higher close on Wall Street, with the major averages bouncing off the multi-month closing lows set on Thursday.
In economic news, the Labor Department reported a bigger than expected increase in U.S. import prices in September, while export prices were unchanged. Also, the University of Michigan showed a drop in consumer sentiment in October.
Crude oil prices moved higher Friday, recovering from recent losses on easing concerns about economic and demand slowdown. Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.37, or 0.5 percent, at $71.34 a barrel. For the week, crude oil futures tumbled 4 percent after gains in four consecutive weeks.
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