The South Korea stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 80 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,860-point plateau and it\'s expected to open higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The KOSPI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and industrials.
For the day, the index jumped 37.29 points or 1.32 percent to finish at 2,862.23 after trading between 2,836.21 and 2,871.96. Volume was 372.36 million shares worth 12.9 trillion won. There were 461 decliners and 397 gainers.
Among the actives, Shinhan Financial jumped 1.90 percent, while KB Financial soared 2.68 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.61 percent, Samsung Electronics surged 2.96 percent, Samsung SDI rallied 2.00 percent, LG Electronics climbed 2.69 percent, SK Hynix spiked 2.61 percent, Naver skyrocketed 5.19 percent, LG Chem fell 0.28 percent, Lotte Chemical retreated 1.64 percent, S-Oil skidded 1.03 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 1.75 percent, POSCO added 0.53 percent, SK Telecom perked 0.19 percent, KEPCO advanced 0.88 percent, Hyundai Mobis rose 0.41 percent, Hyundai Motor accelerated 1.26 percent and Kia Motors gained 0.56 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened flat but generally moved higher throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.
The Dow added 67.87 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 39,375.87, while the NASDAQ rallied 164.46 points or 0.90 percent to close at a record 18,352.76 and the S&P 500 gained 30.17 points or 0.54 percent to end at 5,567.19 - also a record.
For the holiday-interrupted week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.5 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.0 percent and the Dow advanced 0.7 percent.
The strength on Wall Street came as the Labor Department\'s closely watched monthly jobs report for June generated optimism about the outlook for interest rates.
While employment jumped by more than expected in June, the report also showed downward revisions to job growth in April and May as well as another unexpected uptick by the unemployment rate.
Treasury yields moved lower after the release of the report amid optimism the continued increase by the jobless rate will convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in the near future.
Oil futures slipped on Friday, but still posted their fourth straight weekly gain amid optimism about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.72 or 0.86 percent at $83.16 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 2 percent in the week.