The South Korean stock market has finished higher now in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 30 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The KOSPI finished just above the 1,775-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting further upside again at the opening of trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, although the upside is likely limited by caution ahead of U.S. employment data later in the day. Technology and housing stocks are expected to provide support. The European markets were mixed but little changed and the U.S. bourses were firmly higher - and the Asian markets are also expected to track higher.
The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Thursday, supported by gains from the technology and retail sectors - although financials continued to weigh.
For the day, the index added 11.04 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 1,775.73 after trading between 1,767.67 and 1,783.85 on turnover of 93.9 billion won. There were 497 gainers and 312 decliners.
Among the gainers, LG Display surged 6.77 percent, while Hynix Semiconductor added 1.2 percent and Lotte Shopping gained 2.98 percent.
Finishing lower, Shinhan Financial Group plunged 4.87 percent, Hyundai Motor shed 0.69 percent and POSCO eased 0.31 percent.
Wall Street offers a positive lead as stocks ended notably higher on Thursday ahead of the landmark jobs report following the release of upbeat data on pending home sales and weekly jobless claims.
Boosting sentiment was data from the National Association of Realtors showing a 5.2 percent increase in its pending home sales index in July. Economists had been expecting the index to come in unchanged.
The mood on Wall Street was also helped by a report from the Labor Department showing that initial jobless claims edged down to 472,000 in the week ended August 28, below the 475,000 estimated by economists.
Continued growth in August retail sales also helped to elevate risk appetite, with Target (TGT) reporting a 1.8 percent increase same-store sales, Saks' (SKS) sales rising by 1 percent, Kohl's (KSS) seeing 4.5 percent growth and sales by wholesaler Costco (COST) jumping by 7 percent.
In other corporate news, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) beat out rival Dell Inc. (DELL) in a bidding war for electronic storage firm 3Par (PAR), offering a winning bid of $33 per share, or a total of approximately $2 billion.
Additionally, fast food giant Burger King (BKC) closed markedly higher after the firm entered an agreement to be purchased by private capital firm 3G for $24 per share or nearly $4 billion, including debt.
The major averages all saw steady upside in the second half of the day, eventually ending near their best levels of the session. The Dow gained 50.63 points or 0.5 percent to end at 10,320.10, the NASDAQ advanced by 23.17 points or 1.1 percent to 2,200.01 and the S&P 500 rose by 9.81 points or 0.9 percent to 1,090.10.
In economic news, South Korea is on Friday scheduled to release final gross domestic product figures for the second quarter of 2010. Analysts are expecting little change from the preliminary readings last month that showed a 7.2 percent increase on year and a 1.5 percent gain on quarter.
Also, South Korea's monetary policy remains highly accommodative even after raising the policy rate by 25 basis points in July, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday. The Washington-based lender also upgraded its growth outlook for this year, citing strong private sector demand.
The Executive Board of IMF agreed that a carefully calibrated exit from supportive macroeconomic policies is appropriate. "This comprises a measured fiscal withdrawal in 2011, a gradual normalization of policy rates given the current accommodative monetary stance, and a further unwinding of support to the financial sector and SMEs," the lender added.
The Bank of Korea had hiked its key rate in July to 2.25 percent from 2 percent. Rates had been frozen at their record low of 2 percent since February 2009.
Finally, South Korea's official foreign reserves dropped US$0.6 billion to US$285.35 billion at the end of August, the Bank of Korea said on Thursday. This was mainly due to a decrease in the U.S. dollar translation values of euro- and pound-denominated reserves in line with the weakness of those currencies against the dollar.
Securities fell to US$244.2 billion from US$245 billion last month, while deposits rose to US$36.66 billion. Reserve position with IMF totaled US$0.95 billion compared to US$0.96 billion in July. Special Drawing Rights also decreased in August, to US$3.47 billion from US$3.5 billion. At the same time, value of gold remained at US$0.08 billion.
As of the end of July this year, Korea was the fifth largest holder of foreign reserves in the world, up from the sixth of the previous month-end, the central bank said.
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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.