Seoul stocks eye technical rebound

South Korean stocks will try to pull off a technical rebound this week, in the face of persistent eurozone uncertainties that have weighed down global economic recovery efforts, local analysts said Saturday.

The country’s key stock index, the KOSPI, closed at 1,824.17 points on Friday, up 2.34 percent from a week earlier after China expressed its resolve to stimulate its economy, and U.S. housing market figures showed signs of improvement.

The announcement and positive data helped calm market jitters caused by concerns that Greece may leave the European currency union after its electorate supported anti-austerity measures in earlier polls.

Investors had also expressed disappointment that the informal European Union summit meeting held on Wednesday failed to come up with a viable plan on the continent’s fiscal debt problems.

Leaders, however, concurred on the need to keep Greece in the eurozone.

“There is a chance that the KOSPI will pull off a technical rebound, following sharp losses posted earlier in the month, but there is a need to be cautious about making investments,” Lee Seung-woo, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, said. He added that stock prices may be subject to sharp fluctuations in the coming days.

Others said that the market may move up to bargain hunting for big cap shares and should track macroeconomic data coming out of the United States and China, although any gains may not translate into a trend in the market until after the EU and Greece devise a plan to cope with their fiscal problems.

The United States is scheduled to announce its employment, industrial output and trade-related information next week with China to release its purchasing managers index.

(Yonhap News)