The South Korean stock market has finished higher now in three straight sessions, gathering more than 35 points or 1.9 percent in the process. The KOSPI finished just above the 1,780-point plateau, and now investors are looking for continued strength when the market kicks off trade on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive as they get their first chance to react to better than expected employment data out of the United States. Technology stocks, financials, properties and oil companies figure to provide support. The European and U.S. markets ended sharply higher on Friday, and the Asian markets are also expected to track to the upside.
The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Friday, as gains from the technology stocks and shipbuilders were offset by selling among the financial sector.
For the day, the index added 4.29 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 1,780.02 after trading between 1,774.95 and 1,786.04.
Among the gainers, Hynix Semiconductor added 3.3 percent, while Samsung Electronics was up 0.3 percent, LG Electronics gained 2.4 percent, LG Display jumped 3.4 percent, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering collected 1.1 percent, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding climbed 4.1 percent and Lotte Samkang surged 3.4 percent.
Finishing lower, Shinhan Financial shed 1.9 percent and Lotte Shopping eased 0.6 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly optimistic as stocks rallied to their best closing levels in three weeks on Friday, as a softer than forecast drop in August jobs helped to alleviate some fears of a double-dip recession. Nonetheless, the day's buying may have been held back by a worse than expected reading on service sector activity.
Before the start of trading, the Labor Department said that non-farm payroll employment fell by 54,000 jobs in August, matching the revised decrease seen in July. Economists had expected employment to fall by about 120,000 jobs compared to the loss of 131,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month. While government employment showed a notable decrease due to the elimination of 114,000 temporary census jobs, private sector employment increased for the eighth consecutive month, rising by 67,000 jobs.
Despite the smaller than expected decrease in non-farm employment, however, the unemployment rate still edged up to 9.6 percent in August from 9.5 percent in July. The modest increase in the unemployment rate came in line with economist estimates.
Meanwhile, the Institute for Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index fell to 51.5 in August from 54.3 in July, although a reading above 50 indicates continued growth in the service sector. Economists had expected the index to show a more modest decrease to a reading of 53.0. With the bigger than expected decrease, the non-manufacturing index fell to its lowest level since coming in at 50.5 in January.
In corporate news, video game maker Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) reported a third quarter profit while analysts expected a loss, with the results reflecting the strong performance of Red Dead Redemption, which was launched in May. Revenues also firmly beat estimates and the company raised its guidance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010.
Tax preparation company H&R Block (HRB) reported a narrower than expected loss for its first quarter on revenues that topped expectations by nearly $10 million. Meanwhile, Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) posted fourth quarter revenues that missed forecasts while projecting 2011 sales below expectations.
The major averages edged higher going into the close, ending the day near their highs for the session. The Dow jumped by 127.83 points or 1.2 percent to end at 10,447.93, the NASDAQ advanced by 33.74 points or 1.5 percent to 2,233.75 and the S&P 500 surged up 14.41 points or 1.3 percent to 1,104.51. With the strong gains on the day, the major averages all showed notable upward moves for the week. The Dow rose by 2.9 percent for the week, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both rose by 3.7 percent.
In economic news, South Korea's gross domestic product expanded 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the previous quarter, the Bank of Korea said on Friday. That was slightly lower than the 1.5 percent quarterly expansion indicated in the preliminary reading on July 26. The annual headline figure was unchanged, with GDP expanding 7.2 percent on year.
Nominal gross national income increased 2.2 percent on quarter, while real gross national income increased by just 0.5 percent. In terms of year-on-year growth, real GNI increased by 5.4 percent. The GDP deflator fell 2.6 percent on year.
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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.