Rally May Stall On Monday For South Korea Shares

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to the uncertainty created by U.S. President Donald Trump testing positive for the coronavirus. The European markets were mixed on Friday and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the automobile producers and oil and chemical companies, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index climbed 19.81 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 2,327.89 after trading between 2,320.04 and 2,339.83. Volume was 626 million shares worth 8.9 trillion won. There were 667 gainers and 192 decliners.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial collected 0.36 percent, while KB Financial tumbled 1.70 percent, Hana Financial climbed 1.26 percent, SK Hynix jumped 1.82 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 2.97 percent, LG Chem soared 4.47 percent, Lotte Chemical rose 0.26 percent, S-Oil gathered 1.18 percent, SK Innovation gained 0.72 percent, POSCO perked 1.03 percent, SK Telecom spiked 2.15 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.99 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.71 percent, Kia Motors surged 3.08 percent and Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the session, with the NASDAQ posting particularly steep losses.

The Dow shed 134.09 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 27,682.81, while the NASDAQ plummeted 251.49 points or 2.22 percent to end at 11,075.02 and the S&P 500 sank 32.36 points or 0.96 percent to close at 3,348.44. For the week, the Dow surged 1.9 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P both climbed 1.5 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street came following news that Trump and his wife have tested positive for the coronavirus. This just a month before Election Day and has led to additional uncertainty about the outcome of the presidential election.

In economic news, the Labor Department said U.S. job growth slowed by much more than anticipated in September.

Crude oil futures ended sharply lower on Friday, weighed down by worries about the outlook for energy demand amid reports of sharp spikes in coronavirus cases. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended down $1.67 or 4.3 percent at $37.05 a barrel.