South Korea's stock market is expected to rebound next week as concerns over the eurozone crisis ease and a series of stimulus measures set to be revealed boost investor sentiment here, analysts said Saturday.

   The country's key stock index, the KOSPI, dropped 1.9 percent this week to close at 1,948.71 on Friday, weighed down by an escalating fiscal problem in Cyprus and a cyber attack on several media outlets and banks.

   Standard & Poor's, a global credit appraiser, slashed Cyprus's sovereign rating on Friday by one notch to "CCC," citing rising concerns over the country's financial health.

   The International Monetary Fund and the eurozone countries earlier agreed to provide Cyprus with a bailout worth 10 billion euros (US$12.9 billion) in a bid to prevent the country from going bankrupt.

   Local TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN along with some banks suffered a massive network failure on Wednesday that halted financial services and crippled operations for hours.

   "Foreigners went on a selling spree this week, but may return to the market next week as a series of bad events are behind us," said Han Chi-hwan, an analyst at KDB Daewoo Securities.

   Foreigners sold a net 1.51 trillion won worth of local shares this week.

   Analysts said the new government's move to create an extra budget will help the local stock market turn upward next week.

   South Korea's new finance minister said Friday that his ministry will come up with a package of measures next week to boost

the economy's recovery and help the livelihoods of the people.

   The proposed extra budget estimated at 10 trillion won will be the first of its kind since 2009.

   "The extra budget will send the local stock market higher," said Kwak Byoeng-yeol, an analyst at Eugine Investment & Securities.

   Meanwhile, U.S. stocks rose on Friday on hopes that a deal to bail out Cyprus would be reached.

   The Dow Jones industrial average rose 90.54 points, or 0.63 percent, to end at 14,512.03. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 22.40 points, or 0.70 percent, to close at 3,245.00.

(Yonhap News)