뉴욕 증시와 국내 증시의 美 대선 영향
Our next story is on the U.S. stock surge amid the U.S. presidential election and its implications for South Korea.
For more on this, we turn to Lee Kyung-min from the Korea Times who is on the line for us.
Good morning Kyung-min, can you brief us on how markets performed on Friday?
Wall Street continued a blistering rally that gave the market its biggest weekly gain since April and ended with a breather last Friday.
Last week's blockbuster gain was led by hopes of a massive stimulus package to be injected to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 index inched down less than 0.1% last Friday, but it did little to shave off the blockbuster gain of 7.3% during election week.
Last week's gains more than offset the steep losses from the week before, when the market tumbled due to uncertainty surrounding the election.
Other issues included the start of a lockdown in Britain, and the possibility the U.S. could put more curbs on economic activity following an increase in the number of coronavirus cases.
With the uncertainties not completely gone, stocks still surged because investors expected that most of the business-friendly policies are likely to stay in place after early election results indicated a split Congress between Democrats and Republicans.
A congress equally split between Democrats and Republicans is less likely to push for anti-business policies than a Democrat-controlled Congress.
But market analysts say caution is needed since more volatility could be in store given all the remaining risks in the market that widely fluctuates even at the inkling of a bad sign reported on the news.
Now Kyungmin, how will the results of the U.S. election affect the local stock market? and with Biden's victory, what should local firms gear up for?
The KOSPI closed at 2,416.50, Friday, gaining 0.11 percent from the previous session. Friday's gain was the continuation of the weekly gain of 100 points to 2400 from 2300.
Besides the main bourse, the secondary tech-heavy KOSDAW also topped 840, up from 800.
Market watchers say the bullish run is likely to continue for the time being given the largest stimulus package to date, including investments into infrastructure and EVs and FCEVs, among other future-oriented businesses.
As for the outlook for the Korean economy overall, local think tanks say the government will have to increase its preparedness against politically charged demands from the world's two largest economies the U.S. and China.
Otherwise, export-reliant Korea could see its economy taking a major hit, as evidenced by the fallout experienced in 2017 amid an intensified feud over the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense system here.
They say Korea will be able to become part of a supply chain to be set up by the U.S., though, as the U.S. is seeking to cut its reliance on China amid the pandemic, a move prompted further by the growing risks now associated with offshoring.
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