South Korea Shares Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 60 points or 2.3 percent. The KOSPI now rests just above the 2,700-points plateau, although it's likely to bounce higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat with a touch of upside ahead of the FOMC statement on Wednesday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to inch higher.

The KOSPI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, technology stocks and chemical companies.

For the day, the index shed 21.50 points or 0.79 percent to finish at 2,701.17. Volume was 499.3 million shares worth 11.16 trillion won. There were 499 decliners and 381 gainers.

Among the actives, Shinhan Financial stumbled 1.91 percent, while KB Financial retreated 1.51 percent, Hana Financial skidded 1.16 percent, Samsung Electronics tumbled 2.07 percent, Samsung SDI plunged 1.50 percent, LG Electronics dipped 0.10 percent, SK Hynix rose 0.24 percent, Naver plummeted 2.68 percent, LG Chem surrendered 3.01 percent, Lotte Chemical declined 1.52 percent, S-Oil shed 0.59 percent, SK Innovation weakened 2.41 percent, POSCO tanked 2.46 percent, SK Telecom dropped 0.96 percent, KEPCO slumped 1.15 percent, Hyundai Mobis lost 0.67 percent, Hyundai Motor advanced 0.94 percent and Kia Motors added 0.25 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Monday before gradually climbing up into positive territory.

The Dow gained 69.05 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 38,868.04, while the NASDAQ added 51.90 points or 0.35 percent to close at 17,192.53 and the S&P 500 rose 13/80 points or 0.26 percent to end at 5,360.79.

Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of several key events later this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Since the decision is largely seen as a foregone conclusion, traders are likely to pay closer attention to Fed officials' latest projections for the economy and rates.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation in the month of May.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.21 or about 2.9 percent at $77.74 a barrel.

Closer to home, South Korea will release April figures for current account later this morning. In March, the current account surplus was $6.93 billion.