The South Korean stock market opened higher on Friday, shrugging off news about North Korea being in the final stage of enriching uranium, but has slipped into the red subsequently with investors pressing some heavy sales in technology and automobile stocks.
The Korean benchmark index KOSPI, which surged to 1,623 in early trading, is currently down with a loss of 9.5 points, or 0.59%, at 1,604.
Automobile stocks Kia Motor and Hyundai Motor are declining 3% and 2.6%, respectively. Ssangyong Motor is trading up by about 1%.
Among technology stocks, Hynix Semiconductor is down with a 6% loss following a brokerage downgrade. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are trading lower by 1.5% and 1.4%, respectively, while LG Display LCD is down nearly 1%.
In the banking space, Korea Exchange Bank, Shinhan Financial and KB Financial are trading up 1% - 1.5%, while Woori Finance is down with a loss of 1.8%.
Oil stocks are trading flat. Among steel stocks, Hyundai Steel is down 1.5% from its previous close, while POSCO is trading modestly higher. Telecom and airlines stocks are trading mixed.
In the shipbuilding space, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewooo Shipbuilding and STX Pan Ocean are down 1% - 1.5%. Hyundai Heavy Industries is down with a modest loss.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan are trading modestly higher. Shanghai, Hong Kong and Indonesia are also trading in positive territory. Japan and Singapore are exhibiting some weakness. Stock markets across the region had closed on a mixed note on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks ended modestly higher on Thursday amid mixed economic data. After moving in a lackluster way, the Dow ended up around 64 points or 0.7% at 9,345. The Nasdaq moved up 16 points or 0.8% to 1,983 and the S&P 500 closed up 8.5 points or 0.9% at 1,003.
Major European markets ended modestly lower on Thursday. While the French CAC 40 index drifted down by 0.6%, the German DAX index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 both fell by 0.4%.
Crude oil prices saw little change for a second straight session on Thursday, remaining near the US$68 per barrel mark with traders looking ahead to the jobs report on Friday. Light sweet crude for October fell to US$67.96, down nine cents on the session. Prices touched as high as US$69.40 after earlier hitting a low of US$67.66.
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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.