South Korea Bourse May Reverse Tuesday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Tuesday halted the two-day winning streak in which it had added more than 20 point or 0.7 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,780-point plateau although it's likely to bounce higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of Friday's U.S. employment data. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the technology, industrial and chemical sectors were mitigated by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index lost 23.45 points or 0.84 percent to finish at 2,780.86 after trading between 2,776.62 and 2,805.42. Volume was 532.3 million shares worth 11.5 trillion won.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial rallied 3.45 percent, while KB Financial soared 4.52 percent, Hana Financial surged 4.49 percent, Samsung SDI plummeted 4.22 percent, LG Electronics lost 2.19 percent, SK Hynix declined 1.49 percent, Naver stumbled 1.84 percent, LG Chem sank 0.70 percent, Lotte Chemical surrendered 3.10 percent, S-Oil dropped 0.88 percent, SK Innovation tumbled 2.95 percent, POSCO retreated 1.35 percent, SK Telecom rose 0.39 percent, KEPCO stumbled 1.43 percent, Hyundai Mobis slumped 4.85 percent, Hyundai Motor plunged 4.72 percent, Kia Motors tanked 3.89 percent and Samsung Electronics was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and hugged the line for much of the day before a late surge sent them firmly into the green by the close.

The Dow jumped 162.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 39,331.85, while the NASDAQ rallied 149.46 points or 0.84 percent to close at 18,028.76 and the S&P 500 gained 33.92 points or 0.62 percent to end at 5,509.01.

The soft start on Wall Street followed comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who expressed satisfaction with the progress on inflation but said he wants to see more before being confident enough to start cutting interest rates.

Stocks moved higher after bond yields drifted down as investors look ahead to key employment data later in the week.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid easing fears about supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Beryl. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.57 or about 0.7 percent at $82.81 a barrel.