The South Korea stock market has finished lower now in back-to-back sessions, shedding more than a dozen points or 0.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI finished just below the 1,870-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting additional selling pressure at the opening of trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains negative following comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who told reporters that the central bank "may undertake outright open market operations" - but traders were disappointed by the lack of details. Adding to the cautious sentiment, the U.S. Labor Department will release monthly employment data for July later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were down, and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the technology sector.
For the day, the index shed 10.53 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 1,869.40 after trading between 1,864.86 and 1,885.89 on turnover of 3.35 trillion won.
Among the actives, CJ Cheiljedang spiked 3.9 percent, while Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) climbed 2.7 percent, Samsung Electronics dropped 2.9 percent and LG UPlus surged 3.3 percent.
Wall Street puts forth a pessimistic lead as stocks ended Thursday's session mostly lower, extending the downward move seen in the three previous sessions.
Much of the weakness stemmed from a negative reaction to comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who spoke at a press conference following the central bank's monetary policy meeting. At the meeting, the ECB decided to leave interest rates unchanged following a quarter basis point cut at its previous meeting last month.
Draghi told reporters that the central bank "may undertake outright open market operations," but traders seemed disappointed that there was not more conviction behind Draghi's remarks. Last week, Draghi promised to do whatever is necessary to support the beleaguered eurozone, leading to a rally on Wall Street.
Traders shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims crept up to 365,000 in the week ended July 28 from the previous week's revised figure of 357,000. Economists had expected jobless claims to climb to 370,000 from the 353,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Later this morning, the U.S. Labor Department will release the keenly awaited non-farm payroll data for July. Economists expect that employment rose by about 100,000 jobs following a weaker than expected increase of 80,000 jobs in June. The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 8.2 percent.
The major averages climbed well off their worst levels going into the close but still ended the day in the red. The Dow fell 92.18 points or 0.7 percent to 12,878.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 10.44 points or 0.4 percent to end at 2,909.77 and the S&P 500 dropped 10.14 points or 0.7 percent to 1,365.00.
In economic news, the Bank of Korea on Thursday said it raised gold holdings for the first time this year in July. Gold holdings increased by $0.81 billion, or equivalent to 0.9 percent of total reserves, to $2.98 billion in July, the central bank said. Official reserves rose $1.97 billion to $314.35 billion at the end of July, the seventh largest in the world.
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Market Analysis
June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.