The South Korea stock market has finished higher now in four straight sessions, climbing nearly 70 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The KOSPI finished just above the 1,955-point plateau, and now traders are expected to lock in gains when the market opens on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild selling pressure following weak economic data from the U.S. General profit-taking also may be in order following several days of gain. Technology stocks are likely to fall under pressure, along with financial and natural gas stocks. The European markets finished firmly higher and the U.S. bourses ended in the red - and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.
The KOSPI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial sector and a mixed performance from the technology stocks.
For the day, the index collected 4.95 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 1,957.18 after trading between 1,949.51 and 1,962.71. Volume was 403 million shares worth 5.46 trillion won. There were 511 gainers and 286 decliners.
Among the actives, Woori Finance Holdings added 0.47 percent and KB Financial Group collected 0.24 percent, while LG Display shed 1.93 percent, LG Electronics climbed 0.52 percent and Hyundai Motor lost 2.14 percent.
The lead from Wall Street calls for consolidation as disappointing housing data offset early buying interest, sending stocks lower on Thursday. Profit taking following recent strength also contributed to the downturn by the markets.
An upbeat report from the Commerce Department contributed to the early buying interest, showing a bigger than expected increase in durable goods orders in December.
However, the Labor Department reported that jobless claims rose to 377,000 in the week ended January 21 from the previous week's revised figure of 356,000, while economists had expected jobless claims to increase to 370,000.
In addition, the Commerce Department reported that new home sales fell 2.2 percent to an annual rate of 307,000 in December from the revised November rate of 314,000. The drop surprised economists, who had expected new home sales to increase to an annual rate of 320,000.
Among individual stocks, shares of AT&T (T) fell by 2.5 percent after the telecom giant reported slightly weaker than expected fourth quarter adjusted earnings despite seeing stronger than expected revenue growth.
Meanwhile, Caterpillar (CAT) rose by 2.1 percent after the construction equipment manufacturer reported stronger than expected fourth quarter earnings growth. Diversified manufacturer 3M (MMM) also ended the day higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results.
The major averages climbed off their worst levels of the day going into the close but still ended the session in the red. The Dow edged down 22.33 points or 0.2 percent to 12,734.63, while the NASDAQ fell 13.03 points or 0.5 percent to 2,805.28 and the S&P 500 slid 7.60 points or 0.6 percent to 1,318.45.
In corporate news, South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor on Thursday posted a 38 percent rise in its fourth-quarter 2011 net profit to 2.0 trillion won from the prior year's 1.45 trillion won, with recurring profit climbing 51.6 percent to 2.54 trillion won from 1.68 trillion won a year earlier. Sales revenue for the recent quarter totaled 20.52 trillion won compared with 18.54 trillion won in the comparable period last year, up 10.7 percent.
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