South Korea Stocks Likely To Be Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has finished lower now in five straight trading days, falling more than 15 points or 0.8 percent in that span. The KOSPI remained just above the 1,990-point plateau, and the market is expected to remain rangebound again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with a touch of upside thanks to inconclusive earnings news and economic data. The European markets were modestly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed by little changed. Many of the Asian markets are closed for the Easter break, and the ones that remain open figure to see little movement.

The KOSPI finished barely lower on Thursday in light trade and a narrow range. Weakness from the technology stocks was the key drag.

For the day, the index eased 0.16 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 1,992.05 after trading between 1,984.98 and 2,001.29. Volume was 195.69 million shares worth 2.86 trillion won. There were 400 gainers and 377 decliners.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Thursday. The major averages spent the session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending the day mixed as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant move ahead of the long weekend.

The Dow eased 16.31 points or 0.1 percent to 16,408.54, while the NASDAQ crept up 9.29 points or 0.2 percent to 4,095.52 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.54 points or 0.1 percent to 1,864.85. For the week, the S&P 500 surged by 2.7 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 2.4 percent.

A mixed reaction to the latest batch of earnings news contributed to the lackluster performance by the broader markets. While Morgan Stanley (MS) and General Electric (GE) moved notably higher after reporting their quarterly results, Google (GOOG) and IBM (IBM) saw significant weakness.

Some positive sentiment was generated by news that officials from the U.S., Russia, Ukraine and the European Union have reached an agreement on a preliminary plan for ending the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, largely shrugged off economic data, including a report from the Labor Department showing a smaller than expected increase in weekly jobless claims. A separate report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showed that regional manufacturing activity accelerated by more than anticipated in April.