The South Korean stock market has finished lower now in two if three trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had collected nearly 35 points or 1.8 percent. The KOSPI ended just above the 1,770-point plateau, although now investors are expecting the market to slide lower at the opening of trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mildly pessimistic, thanks to mixed messages from the Federal Reserve. Utilities and technology stocks may come under pressure, although financials and oil companies are expected to provide support. The European and U.S. markets finished in negative territory, and now the Asian bourses are tipped to follow that lead.
The KOSPI finished barely lower on Thursday as losses among the technology stocks and automobile producers were offset by gains from the financial shares and telecoms.
For the day, the index eased 2.59 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 1,770.88 after trading between 1,767.96 and 1,776.96.
Among the decliners, Hyundai Motor shed 0.7 percent, while LG Electronics eased 0.5 percent, LG Display lost 4.3 percent, Samsung Electronics fell 1.2 percent and Kia Motors declined 1 percent.
Finishing higher, SK Telecom climbed 0.6 percent and Shinhan Financial Group added 0.6 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks ended moderately lower on Thursday, with mixed indications from the Federal Reserve, the labor market and the earnings front prompting some selling in the equity markets. With the declines, the major averages pulled back further off their recent highs.
The markets came under pressure in the early afternoon following some unsettling comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who spooked the markets when he said that the Fed's current policies are putting the U.S. at risk for "a Japanese-style deflationary outcome within the next several years."
While Bullard said the most likely course for the U.S. economy is a gradual recovery, he said that if prices drop, the Fed should think about buying more Treasury securities instead of promising to keep interest rates low for an "extended period."
Early gains in the markets were seen as the markets focused on a decline in jobless claims and the silver lining in a mixed bag of earnings reports.
Before the start of trading, the Labor Department released a report showing that jobless claims in the week ended July 24th dropped to 457,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 468,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge down to 460,000 from the 464,000 originally reported for the previous week.
In earnings news, Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (CL) both reported second quarter earnings estimates that beat Wall Street projections but fell short of revenue expectations. Meanwhile, Motorola Inc. (MOT) reported adjusted second-quarter earnings and sales that were ahead of estimates.
After the markets closed for trading in the previous session, Japanese electronics giant Sony Corp. (SNE) reported a profit for the first quarter of fiscal 2011 compared to a loss in the same period last year. The company also raised its full year earnings guidance.
The major averages saw some downside in late-session dealing, slipping back into negative territory. The Dow fell by 30.72 points or 0.3 percent to 10,467.16, the NASDAQ declined by 12.87 points or 0.6 percent to 2,251.69 and the S&P 500 slid by 4.60 points or 0.4 percent to 1,101.53.
In economic news, South Korea will on Friday announce June figures for industrial output, service industry output and its leading index. Industrial output is expected to rise 16.5 percent on year after climbing an annual 21.5 percent in May. Service industry output was up 3.8 percent in May, while the leading index saw a score of 8.
On the political front, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Un-chan has announced his resignation, holding himself responsible for the government's failure last month to get parliamentary approval to halt relocation of government offices out of the capital, Seoul. He had verbally offered to resign earlier this month, but President Lee Myung-bak refused to accept his offer. But this time, Lee has decided to accept Chung's resignation.
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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.