South Korea Shares May Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 340 points or 4.8 percent. The KOSPI now sits just beneath the 6,300-point plateau and it's likely to spin its wheels again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of key U.S. jobs data, and on a spike in crude oil prices. The European markets were flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The KOSPI finished sharply lower on Thursday as the technology sector was hammered yet again, while the shipbuilders also suffered heavy damage.

For the day, the index plummeted 301.88 points or 4.58 percent to finish at 6,296.38 after tumbling as low as 6,238.32. Volume was 281.8 million shares worth 25.9 trillion won. There were 489 gainers and 380 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but quickly slipped into the red and remained there for the balance of the day.

The Dow dropped 464.02 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 53,885.10, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.09 points or 0.06 percent to close at 16,348.35 and the S&P 500 sank 13.59 points or 0.18 percent to end at 7,709.96.

The choppy trading by the broader markets came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The report is expected to show employment jumped by 88,000 jobs in July after climbing by 57,000 jobs in June, and it may have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Ahead of the release of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices surged on Thursday following attacks on Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $2.11 or 2.81 percent at $77.33 per barrel.