Seoul shares may face further correction

South Korea's stock market is likely to experience a further correction next week amid lingering jitters over high oil prices, analysts said Friday. "The market is likely to undergo a further correction next week," Dongbu Securities analyst Lim Dong-Min said.
"With no fresh elements that will lead the market, the index may fall to 1,750 points." Hopes for solid second-quarter earnings are also fading, Lim said. Next week will see a bundle of macroeconomic data including industrial output. For the week to May 23, the KOSPI index lost 60.94 points or 3.2 percent to close at 1,827.94 on Friday. "The KOSPI is expected to trade rangebound between 1,750 points and 1,850 points for a while, with the first-quarter earnings reporting season wrapping up and foreign investors scaling back their purchases of local stocks," said Jeon Yong-Soo, an analyst at Bookook Securities.
Oil price concerns will likely continue to dictate the market's direction and investors will remain cautious due to fears of an economic slowdown, he said.